China Flexes Muscles at U.N. Cultural Agency, Just as Trump Walks Away
But the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has also become the target of an intense Chinese influence campaign in recent years as Beijing has sought to increase its reach over educational curriculums, historical designations and even artificial intelligence.
President Trump's decision Tuesday to withdraw the United States from the group removes a powerful check on China's effort, in the latest example of how the White House retreat from international institutions offers an opening for China to advance its soft power.
The United States was once the largest UNESCO backer, accounting for nearly 25 cents of every dollar. But Washington has had an on-again-off-again relationship with it for years, especially since Mr. Trump first took office in 2017, and China has stepped up to take its place. A Chinese official is now UNESCO's deputy director general, a post that diplomats said is often awarded in exchange for political or monetary favors.
UNESCO has lent support to major priorities for China's top leader, Xi Jinping, including the global infrastructure program known as the Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing has also lobbied heavily for World Heritage designations and is jockeying to surpass Italy as the country with the most culturally significant sites. Some of those sites are in oppressed regions like Tibet and Xinjiang, where many local residents view them as an attempt to appropriate and control their culture and history.
And while UNESCO wields tremendous clout over what counts as history, it is also the U.N. agency in charge of setting artificial intelligence guidelines. UNESCO has an agreement with iFlytek, a major Chinese A.I. company, to cooperate on higher education in Asia and Africa, according to Chinese state media. (UNESCO said it has partnerships with many artificial intelligence companies worldwide.)
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Philippines goods to face 19% tariff, Trump says
The US will levy a 19% tax on imports from the Philippines, US President Donald Trump has announced after meeting with the country's president at the White House. Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday that the new tariff was part of a wider pact, in which the Philippines would remove duties on US goods and the two countries would cooperate militarily. "It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal," he wrote on social media, offering no further details about the apparent agreement. The plan, which was not confirmed by the Philippines, would leave the country facing a tax even higher than what Trump had threatened when he first announced sweeping global tariffs in April. At the time, Trump said his goal with instituting tariffs was to push countries to drop policies he saw as unfair to the US. His plans set off a flurry of trade talks with countries around the world. He has since announced a handful of deals, including with the UK, China and Indonesia. But the agreements so far have kept in place high tariffs, with key issues unresolved or unconfirmed by both parties. With Trump now threatening a new round of higher duties to go into effect 1 August, some of America's biggest and most important trade partners, including the European Union and Canada, remain in limbo. As hopes for a deal dim, officials in Europe are increasingly rallying around plans for potential retaliation. In Canada on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that "complex negotiations" were continuing but was noncommittal on the prospect of reaching a deal by Trump deadline next week. "We'll see," he told reporters after meeting with premiers in Ontario. "The Americans objectives are multiple, they change over time ... but what is clear is that the Canadian government will not accept a bad agreement. The objective is not to have an agreement at any cost." Trump's tariff plans sparked widespread financial turmoil when he announced them originally in April, putting forward a plan that would leave the US with its highest duties since the early 1900s. He subsequently suspended some of the plan's most aggressive measures, while leaving in place a universal 10% tariff on most goods and separately hitting certain items, such as cars, copper, steel and aluminium, with higher duties. But in recent weeks, as markets have calmed and the US economy held steady, Trump has returned to plans for higher duties, sending letters to countries outlining plans for new tariffs that he says will go into force on 1 August. In a letter to leaders in the Philippines this month, he had said he would charge a 20% tariff on the country's goods. That was up from 17% rate he had threatened in April. In a statement on Wednesday, the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines said the reduction in the tariff from the most recent rate threatened was "encouraging". "We will continue to find other ways to enhance and deepen our economic partnership," it said. The Philippines is a relatively small trade partner with the US, sending about $14.2bn worth of goods to the America last year. That included car parts, electric machinery, textiles and coconut oil. Meanwhile for companies, the cost of the new tariffs is increasing. General Motors on Tuesday said tariffs had cost it more than $1bn over three months. That followed an earlier disclosure from rival Stellantis, maker of Jeep, which said the measures had cost it €300m (£259.6m, $349.2m). Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data
New York Times
24 minutes ago
- New York Times
Chinese and European Leaders Meet Amid Grievances on Trade
The European Union has sent the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and other top officials to Beijing for a high-profile, high-stakes summit on Thursday with their Chinese counterparts, complete with nods to the 50-year anniversary of their diplomatic ties. Both sides came with long lists of grievances over trade. The Europeans want an end to the flood of Chinese exports that they insist is unfairly bolstered by government financial support. The Chinese angrily deny the allegations and want the European Union to lift tariffs and embrace trade with China. Neither European Union leaders nor Chinese officials said they expected the summit to resolve their many differences, which also include an intense disagreement over China's support for Russia and its war in Ukraine. Beijing wants the European Union to rescind its tariffs on electric cars from China and take other measures to allow more Chinese exports into the continent. But European leaders have made clear that they want to address many serious concerns about China's recent policies. They are upset that China's state-owned banks are lending at low interest rates to the country's manufacturers. The resulting overflow of inexpensive goods has pushed up China's trade surplus with the European Union to more than $350 billion. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
USA Today
25 minutes ago
- USA Today
In new deal with Trump, Columbia will pay millions in fines
The Ivy League school in New York City struck another deal with the Trump administration in an attempt to restore its federal funding. WASHINGTON – Columbia University, in hopes of restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen funding, has struck another deal with the Trump administration, the university announced. The Ivy League school in New York City will pay a massive $200 million fine to the government, as well as some students and faculty, to settle allegations it violated federal civil rights laws and failed to protect members of its Jewish community from discrimination. It will also jointly appoint an independent monitor to update the federal government on its compliance with new policies, and pay an additional $21 million fine to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agreement marks the second major concession from the prestigious university in its protracted negotiations with the government. Despite the drawn-out talks, and many compromises on Columbia's part, the Trump administration has yet to reroute hundreds of millions of dollars back to the school. Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, said in a statement that the agreement preserves the university's independence and will restore research funding on which the school depends. 'This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,' she said. 'The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track.' The announcement also comes after the Trump administration pushed the University of Pennsylvania, another Ivy League school, to agree to a series of demands related to preventing transgender athletes from competing. Similarly, that deal was reached to restore massive amounts of federal money. Read more: Lia Thomas, Title IX and $175M: Why Penn struck a deal with Trump Meanwhile, Columbia is facing a separate battle over its accreditation status, which the school needs in order to distribute federal financial aid dollars to students. The Education Department has pushed Columbia's accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, to reevaluate its standing. Though Middle States has placed the university on warning, such a step would be virtually unprecedented, and a long and complex process would have to be followed before its accreditation could be revoked. Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@ Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @
