On the 55th anniversary of the restoration of China’s lawful seat at the United Nations, UN Resident Coordinator in China Stephen Jackson reaffirmed the significance of the event, highlighting the nation’s unique and ongoing contributions as a Global South country to the UN and global affairs.
In an exclusive interview with China Daily, Jackson expressed hope that cooperation between the UN and China would play a greater role in promoting South-South cooperation and safeguarding multilateralism.
On Oct 25, 1971, at the 26th session of the UN General Assembly, Resolution 2758 was adopted with an overwhelming majority. The resolution “decides to restore all its rights to the People’s Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations”, marking an important milestone in the history of China’s participation in the UN.
Jackson hailed this as a “very important moment in the history of the UN and in the history of global affairs”, bringing UN representation in line with global realities. He said the resolution introduced a powerful Global South perspective into the Security Council, the highest level of UN leadership, thereby helping to rebalance global power dynamics.
Over the past decades, China’s engagement with the UN has evolved from being a beneficiary country of development assistance to taking “a more active contribution or even leadership” role, said Jackson, citing China’s contributions to international peacekeeping as a prime example.
China’s involvement in international peacekeeping operations began in the 1990s. It now stands as the second-largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping budgets and the largest troop contributor among the five permanent members of the Security Council. As of March, China has sent more than 50,000 peacekeeping personnel and over 2,700 police officers on UN missions.
In recent years, China has successively proposed four global initiatives: the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative, offering Chinese solutions to promote international cooperation.
“It’s very welcome to have a country like China putting forward initiatives that speak of the continued need for multilateralism,” Jackson said.
Strong alignment
Emphasizing the GDI, Jackson noted its strong alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030. “The (UN) deputy secretary-general recently described the GDI as a welcome necessity,” he said.
Official figures underscore the GDI’s impact. So far, the initiative has mobilized over $23 billion in funding, launched more than 1,800 cooperation projects, delivered over 10,000 capacity-building programs for developing countries, and trained more than 200,000 professionals.
With over 30 years of experience in international development, Jackson noted China’s distinctive, non-prescriptive approach to development relationships. He described it as “refreshingly honest”, where China shares its development model as a reference rather than imposing it, allowing nations to adapt what suits them.
This approach makes China a sought-after partner for developing countries, who value its investment, expertise, and capacity-building support, he said, adding that “one aspect of the job here that I’m enjoying greatly is how the UN can help facilitate and open space for that to happen.”
In the past few years, China has actively participated in South-South cooperation. Its Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund has implemented over 170 projects in more than 60 countries, benefiting some 30 million people.
Furthermore, last year, China announced the launch of the China-UN Global South-South Development Facility (2025-30) in partnership with the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, providing $10 million in budgetary support to accelerate sustainable development by promoting practical South-South and triangular cooperation.
Looking ahead, Jackson outlined three core areas for future UN-China collaboration. These include “in China for China”, focusing on supporting China’s next stage of development, “from China for the Global South”, aiming to expand China’s collaboration with other developing countries, and “in China for multilateralism”, leveraging China’s role to revitalize multilateralism and shape the UN’s future work, he said.
