Urgent Call for Review: The Risk of Authoritarian Asset Absorption in Aid to the People's Republic of China

 To:

The Secretary-General of the United Nations
The Presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council
All Member States of the United Nations

Your Excellencies,

I write to bring to your attention a matter of growing concern, not only to humanitarian integrity but also to the credibility of international law, financial accountability, and the mission of the United Nations.

It concerns the nature of humanitarian and development aid provided to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the systemic risk that such assistance is being diverted and absorbed as political assets by the ruling entity—the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

1. Aid vs Control: What the Numbers Don’t Show

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)—widely adopted across UN member states—defines an asset as:

“A resource controlled by an entity, from which future economic benefits are expected.”

Aid that enters a state controlled by a single-party authoritarian regime, lacking judicial independence, press freedom, or recipient autonomy, ceases to be neutral humanitarian assistance. It becomes a state-controlled asset, often redirected for political stabilization, military expansion, censorship infrastructure, and even repression.

2. Historical Examples of Aid Becoming Political Capital

• Sichuan Earthquake (2008): International donations, including over ¥10 billion from Japan alone, were channeled through CCP institutions. No independent auditing was permitted. The disaster zones became tools of propaganda and surveillance.

• COVID-19 Pandemic (2019–2020): CCP interference, including censorship of virologists in Hong Kong, resulted in delayed global response. International technical cooperation was systematically stifled.

• Development Assistance (ODA): Since 1979, Japan alone has provided over ¥3 trillion in official development assistance to the PRC—resources that arguably enhanced the regime’s domestic repression, foreign interference capacity, and biological research for dual use.

3. Legal and Moral Risk of Complicity

Under international humanitarian law and the UN Charter, all member states have a duty to avoid complicity in:

• Violations of human rights

• Expansion of authoritarian control

• Repression of political dissidents

• Disruption of international peace and stability

When financial or material assistance is knowingly or negligently delivered into systems that lack recipient rights and transparency, the donor may bear a share of structural complicity.

4. Recommendations to the United Nations and Member States

I respectfully request that the United Nations and its Member States take immediate steps to:

• Audit past aid flows to the PRC and determine whether such aid was transparently and independently administered.

• Condition all future aid on guarantees of civilian oversight, transparency, and auditability.

• Publish a guidance note for UN agencies and donors on identifying and avoiding the asset-absorption risk under authoritarian regimes.

• Recognize the distinction between aiding the people of China and empowering the regime that governs them.

5. Conclusion: Aid Must Not Become Ammunition

Humanitarian assistance must never be weaponized—whether to silence journalists, surveil citizens, or suppress democratic voices abroad.

This is not merely a financial issue. It is a test of our collective commitment to freedom, justice, and human dignity.

I remain available to assist in clarifying the financial and legal dynamics behind this request and hope that your offices will treat this matter with the urgency it deserves.

Yours faithfully,

CPA Jim, a person holding passport issued by the PRC