A parliamentary panel in United Kingdom (UK) has warned that authoritarian nations such as China have been trying to "seize control" of international bodies including the World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The panel has warned that if the UK and its allies do not undertake measures to stop the "corrosive influence" of China and Russia then the democratic countries are at a "very real risk" to lose the multilateral organisations to the authoritarian states.

In a report published on Thursday (17 June), the UK House of Commons foreign affairs committee stated, "We have seen attempts by countries such as China to seize control of strategically important organisations and fundamentally redefine the once universally agreed principles on which they are based. The UK has played a leading role in the foundation and development of multilateral organisations. This system remains on a slow drift toward capture by autocratic states".

It further said that China has been using its economic leverage, including through the Belt and Road initiative, to achieve support in multilateral organisations.

"Use of aggressive diplomacy by China, which we heard termed as ‘bullying’, can be seen in operation at the OHCHR and HRC as well as the WHO. This has helped China to set an agenda that states such as Russia would be more likely to favour, thus consolidating supportive groups in multilateral organisations," the report added.

The report looked at six major multilateral organisations — the World Health Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, Interpol, the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, reports Times of India.

"If the UK and its allies do not respond to the corrosive influence of states, including China and Russia, there is a very real risk that democratic states will lose multilateral organisations to authoritarian states who have done little to demonstrate that they wish to uphold the values these organisations represent," the report added.

UK foreign affairs panel

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