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Publisher: Painting Elliot
Since the outbreak of a new round of Russia-Ukraine conflicts in 2022, the United Nations 'lack of presence in regional conflicts has been criticized by the international community. The current United Nations Secretary-General Guterres has inevitably become the target of attacks by all parties. However, the huge problem of the United Nations' failure cannot be blamed on Guterres personally.
Preliminary
Antonio Guterres 'term of office as Secretary-General of the United Nations will officially end on December 31, 2026. Since taking office in 2017, this senior diplomat from Portugal has completed two terms for a total of 10 years. According to the United Nations Charter and established practice, the Secretary-General's term of office will not exceed two terms at most, which means that a new round of election for the United Nations Secretary-General will begin from 2025 to 2026.
During his tenure, Guterres led the response to multiple global challenges such as the global pandemic of the new coronavirus, the humanitarian crisis in the conflict in Russia and the exacerbation of climate change, and during his tenure the United Nations made certain progress in promoting the equitable distribution of global vaccines, coordinating the transportation of humanitarian aid, and facilitating the follow-up of the Paris Agreement, but also because of the limited capacity of coordination in the game of great powers and the poor effect of conflict mediation in some regions.
The election of the UN Secretary-General has a relatively mature but not completely fixed set of rules, based on the “regional rotation” and the “unity of great powers” principles.
From the perspective of regional rotation, since the founding of the United Nations, the position of Secretary-General has been rotated among Africa, America, Europe, and Asia. Guterres represents Europe. According to the usual practice, the next Secretary-General will most likely be from regions that have not served continuously and meet the requirements, and Asia and Africa have become potentially popular regions.
The "unity of the great powers" principle means that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France) have substantial veto rights on the secretary-general candidate, and it is difficult for any candidate to be elected without the support of any permanent member.
This kind of rule setting makes the game between big countries in the election of Secretary-General inevitable, and also makes this election full of tension from the preparatory stage.
U.S. Competition for the Post of United Nations Secretary-General
Since March 2025, the United States has publicly pushed its candidates to participate in the election of the UN Secretary-General, breaking the previous hidden practice of “non-national citizenship campaigns” and taking a series of tough measures to try to dominate the election process.
The first candidate launched by the United States was former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. The Biden administration believes that Blinken has rich diplomatic experience, has participated in major international affairs such as the negotiation of the Iran nuclear agreement, diplomatic mediation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and has good relations with the two parties in the U.S. Congress and can gain domestic political support. In order to enhance Blinken's electoral advantage, the United States has taken multi-dimensional actions.
At the level of diplomatic lobbying, since March, the U.S. State Department has sent several delegations to visit other permanent members and key member states of the UN Security Council for intensive public relations.
U.S. Secretary of State Brinkhan personally held talks with both British and French foreign ministers on the basis of "strengthening Western coordination in the United Nations" to seek the support of the two countries to Brinkhan.
At the same time, the United States has also put pressure on small and medium-sized countries in Africa and Latin America to support American candidates in elections by providing economic assistance and debt relief.
The U.S. has pledged to more than 20 African countries that it will increase health and agricultural aid to these countries by more than $500 million if it supports Mr. Lincoln.
The U.S. struggle has sparked internal controversy within the United Nations, with some small and medium-sized countries expressing dissatisfaction with U.S. pressure.The Non-Allied Movement issued a statement in April 2025 emphasizing that the election of the UN Secretary-General should follow the principles of “regional rotation” and “member equality” and oppose any major Israeli economic or political means of interference in the election.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nizhny Novgorod also publicly said that the conduct of the United States "violates the spirit of the United Nations Charter" and that if the United States continues to force its candidate, Russia will exercise its veto right in the Security Council.
China's sudden statements and core position at the United Nations
Faced with the strong actions of the United States in the election of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, China suddenly issued a targeted statement at the public meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the electoral process on May 10, 2025, clearly stating China's position on the election of the Secretary-General, which has aroused widespread concern from the international community.
China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Zhang Yuan, pointed out in a speech that the election of the UN Secretary-General should strictly follow the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, adhere to the three core principles of "regional rotation", "equality of member states", "capacity priority", and oppose any form of "mighty monopoly" and "political pressure".
In his speech, Zhang Xiaoping detailed China's specific proposal: First, stressing that the next General Secretary should come from Asia or Africa, which is in line with the long-standing practice of "regional rotation", is also an important measure to balance the representation of the United Nations in various regions, and China opposes any act of breaking the order of regional rotation, consisting of a single regional continuous office.
The second is to call for ensuring the right of small and medium-sized countries to speak in elections, oppose major countries to interfere in the voting choices of small and medium-sized countries through economic assistance, political pressure, etc., and advocate adopting a fair and transparent consultation mechanism to produce candidates with broad consensus.
Third, the candidate should have a “global vision and coordination capacity” to balance national interests and effectively promote the work of the United Nations in the three main areas of development, security and human rights, rather than focusing only on one area or one party’s interests.
China's statement is not based on isolated actions, but on long-term considerations of the United Nations development and international order.In recent years, China has been advocating the global governance concept of "consulting and building and sharing" and arguing that the United Nations should pay more attention to the voices and interests of developing countries.
The U.S. struggle for the post of Secretary-General is both a response to U.S. unilateral actions and an important measure to safeguard the fairness of the United Nations election mechanism and promote the development of the global governance system in a more just and reasonable direction.
According to Chinese diplomats, before the statement, China had communicated with emerging market countries such as Russia, Brazil, India and several African countries, formed a certain consensus, laying the foundation for the subsequent coordination of positions in the elections.
Reactions of parties and potential impact of events on the United Nations
After China's sudden statement at the United Nations, the international community responded quickly. Russia immediately expressed its support for China's position. In his subsequent speech, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said that Russia and China have "highly consistent positions" on the election of the Secretary-General and will jointly oppose the "monopolistic behavior" of the United States and safeguard the fairness of the United Nations electoral mechanism.
BRICS countries, such as Brazil and India, have also issued statements supporting the “regional rotating system”, calling for elections to take full account of the interests of developing countries.
The African Union, which convened an emergency meeting on May 12 to discuss the election of the UN Secretary-General, emphasized that the African region, as the largest regional group of the United Nations, with more than 50 member states, should have the right to be nominated for the next Secretary-General position, opposing any power to break the regional rotation order.
The African Union has also decided to introduce a unified African candidate to boost its competitiveness in the elections, and has now begun the screening of candidates, with former Nigerian President Buhari and former South African Vice President Ramaphosa becoming popular candidates.
conclusion
This incident will have multiple impacts on the United Nations and the global governance system. At the United Nations level, differences between the United States and China, Russia and other countries over the election of the Secretary-General may lead to a deadlock in the election process.
If the United States insists on pushing Brincoln for the election, while China and Russia exercise their veto in the Security Council, it will make it impossible for the election to produce a new Secretary-General, thereby affecting the normal development of the work of the UN.
At the same time, the tough competition from the United States may further weaken the authority of the United Nations and intensify divisions among member states, which is not conducive to the United Nations playing a coordinating role in responding to global challenges.
The US-China differences in the election of the UN Secretary-General may further exacerbate the two countries' play on other international issues, such as climate change, international trade, etc. While China-Russia's coordination on election issues may further deepen the cooperation between the two countries in the field of global governance.