China deepens ties with UN agency as US prepares withdrawal

China and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have elevated their partnership to its highest level in years through a new 2026 to 2029 cooperation agreement and the operational launch of a landmark STEM institute – developments that come as the United States prepares to withdraw from the international organisation for the third time.

The new UNESCO International Institute for STEM Education (IISTEM) in Shanghai is the first UNESCO Category 1 institute in China and the first STEM-focused institute of its kind outside Europe and North America.

Unlike UNESCO’s hundreds of affiliated Category 2 centres, Category 1 institutes are fully integrated into the organisation’s institutional structure.

Last week, UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany described relations with China as entering “a new phase of ambition, global engagement, and concrete action”.

El-Enany was commenting on the new memorandum of understanding, which outlines practical cooperation in areas including STEM and teacher education, vocational and higher education, artificial intelligence, basic scientific research, open science, global science and technology governance, and the category known as the “International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development”.

It comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping declared earlier this month that the nation will play a more active role in global science and technology governance, raising questions about whether UNESCO is becoming an increasingly important platform for Beijing, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, open science, and STEM education.

Strategic shift in UNESCO footprint

The official opening of IISTEM on 14 May coincided with El-Enany’s first visit to China as director-general of UNESCO, following his appointment in November 2025.

According to UNESCO, IISTEM will focus on global standard-setting, policy dialogue, and the development of STEM competency frameworks, alongside providing policy advice to member states and supporting national education systems.

Its mandate places it at the intersection of education policy, science policy, and broader international governance debates.

There are currently 10 Category 1 UNESCO institutes globally, and the Shanghai launch marks a significant expansion of UNESCO’s formal institutional presence in Asia.

The institute’s governing board is chaired by Professor Gong Ke, former president of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations and executive director of the Chinese Institute for New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies, a state-backed think tank focused on AI policy.

Just last month, El-Enany appointed Chinese academic and physicist Professor Qun Chen as the new UNESCO assistant director-general for education, reflecting Beijing’s growing influence in UNESCO.

Norm-setting ambitions

For observers, the scope of the institute’s mandate – particularly its emphasis on standards and policy frameworks – has drawn attention because these functions extend beyond technical education and into the realm of norm development.

At the inaugural ceremony of the institute in 2025, Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng said the government sees the institution not only as “a birthplace of innovative ideas in STEM education but also a platform for advancing educational transformation, scientific progress, and sustainable development”.

The new partnerships come as the US is set to officially pull out of UNESCO for the third time in its membership history, with the withdrawal taking effect at the end of December 2026, in accordance with UNESCO's constitution.

The current withdrawal was justified by the US administration on grounds that UNESCO's policies were seen as inconsistent with US interests and that the organisation was viewed as advancing what Washington described as “divisive” ideological agendas.

China plays catch-up

According to Kenichi Doi, senior research fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics and adjunct researcher at Waseda University, this shift in balance has presented new opportunities for Beijing.

“While the United States is stepping back, China has consistently presented itself as a supporter of multilateral institutions and global goals, and it is natural that this creates openings for greater Chinese influence over agenda-setting and institutional priorities,” said Doi, who has studied the evolution of China’s partnership with UNESCO.

Doi argues that China has gradually expanded its role in global education governance in part by “filling the vacuum in UNESCO caused by the absence of the US”, while moving from being a “norm taker” to being a more active “norm maker” in multilateral education and science forums.

His research has found that UNESCO has provided a particularly important institutional platform for China since the 2010s, allowing it to engage in agenda-setting through both formal governance structures and programme-based cooperation.

“China prefers UNESCO because UN agencies operate under one-country-one-vote arrangements and give developing countries a greater voice than institutions dominated by advanced economies,” Doi wrote in his 2025 study published in Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education.

China’s expanding role in UNESCO is also reflected in its growing financial contributions to the wider UN system, according to Professor Gerard Postiglione of the University of Hong Kong, who noted that China now contributes 22% of the UN regular budget, compared with less than 1% in the 1990s.

“The joining fee makes one a participant, [whereas] how much you pay makes you a norm-shaper,” said Postiglione.

While UNESCO’s funding structure differs from the UN core budget, broader shifts in multilateral financing have coincided with China’s increased participation in global governance institutions.

At the same time, UNESCO’s funding base has diversified over the past decade, reducing reliance on a small number of major donors and increasing the relative importance of emerging economies.

AI in focus

The 2026 to 2029 memorandum of understanding signed in Beijing on 13 May by El-Enany and Huai Jinpeng identifies artificial intelligence, open science, and global science and technology governance as priority areas of collaboration, alongside STEM education and vocational training.

The emphasis on artificial intelligence in the new cooperation framework also reflects a broader shift in UNESCO’s agenda in recent years.

Since adopting its 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, UNESCO has positioned itself as one of the leading multilateral bodies seeking to define ethical and governance frameworks for AI, as governments attempt to regulate rapidly evolving technologies.

Taken together, these priorities indicate that China-UNESCO cooperation may increasingly extend into discussions over global norms for emerging technologies, including the governance of AI systems and scientific research ecosystems.

China has also articulated similar positions in other multilateral forums. At the 2025 World AI Conference, Premier Li Qiang called for a globally coordinated approach to AI governance and expressed support for a framework based on “broad international consensus”, alongside greater knowledge-sharing with developing countries.

At home, the government has recently pledged a major boost in science and technology funding, placing innovation at the centre of its strategic priorities. “China's own state-led management of STEM is driven to achieve technological self-reliance, global innovation dominance, and a strong education nation by 2035,” noted Postiglione.

South-South cooperation

Another key focus of the Shanghai institute will be strengthening STEM education capacity in Africa and Small Island Developing States, particularly by improving access, teacher training and participation in science and engineering education for young people, including women and girls.

This aligns with UNESCO’s longstanding emphasis on South-South cooperation, particularly in education, science, and digital development.

In recent years, UNESCO has facilitated partnerships linking Chinese institutions with counterparts in Africa and other developing regions, focusing on areas such as digital transformation, technical and vocational education reform, and AI literacy.

At a 2025 China-Africa education cooperation forum, UNESCO representatives also highlighted the importance of aligning such initiatives with the African Union’s continental AI strategy and strengthening science and technology systems in the context of rapid technological change.

China’s engagement with UNESCO has deepened steadily, particularly since the mid-2010s, when cooperation expanded beyond traditional cultural and heritage projects into science, technology and education governance.

UNESCO has supported China’s participation in a range of initiatives, including UNESCO Chairs, technical and vocational education programmes, teacher training partnerships, and digital education platforms. In parallel, China has increased its involvement in UNESCO-sponsored prizes, fellowships and capacity-building programmes, particularly in STEM-related fields.

Institutional balance

Despite the rapid expansion of China-UNESCO cooperation, Doi cautioned that UNESCO remains a highly pluralistic organisation, where member states may be reluctant to see the organisation lean too heavily on any single power.

“How far UNESCO turns towards China will therefore depend not only on Beijing’s willingness to provide support but also on how much ‘middle-power’ members – in Europe, Asia and elsewhere – are willing and able to shoulder greater responsibility for maintaining UNESCO’s financial and political balance,” he told University World News.

Looking ahead, whether China will prove to be an effective leader in the UNESCO platform will ultimately depend on the applicability of its own practices across diverse national contexts and their ability to be turned into broadly shared policy frameworks, he added.

“It [China] will need to engage seriously with other influential member states and demonstrate concrete contributions to shared problem-solving, rather than merely advancing its own preferences,” said Doi.