Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2020 shows the United Nations (UN) flag flying outside the UN headquarters in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday refuted accusations made by a senior U.S. official concerning China's cooperation with the United Nations, saying that China always firmly upholds multilateralism and defends the goals of the UN Charter.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks in response to an article by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft, which was recently published in the New York Post. The article attacked China's cooperation with the UN, and also claimed that with all its actions, the United States was not retreating from multilateralism, but preserving the multilateral system.

The spokesperson called the piece yet another reflection of the ignorance and bias of some U.S. politicians.

"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and the second-largest contributor to the UN's regular as well as peacekeeping budget, China has always firmly upheld multilateralism, supported the work of the UN and defended the purposes and principles of the UN Charter," Wang said.

He added that the United States has not only engaged in unilateralism itself, but also criticized the cooperation between other countries and the United Nations by wantonly distorting facts.

Wang said that international staff members from various countries are all part and parcel of the UN team. They perform their duties in accordance with the collective will of the member states and are subject to the supervision of the member states. They have made important contributions to the UN cause and deserve to be respected by all parties.

Calling Craft's accusation an insult to all international staff, the spokesperson also pointed out that the accusation is devoid of any factual basis.

Wang added that Craft and other U.S. politicians chose to provoke confrontation between major countries in the United Nations and interfere in other countries' internal affairs, which is deeply unpopular.

Recently, representatives of a small number of countries, including Craft, maliciously discredited China on human rights issues. China refuted this with facts and truth and won the support of more than 70 countries. This fully proves that more and more countries, after seeing the true face of the United States, have taken concrete actions to oppose hegemonism and political confrontation.

Spokesperson Wang also slammed Craft for interfering in China's internal affairs through issues relating to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, calling it a violation of international law and basic norms of international relations.

"The first order of business for Craft is to understand the territorial space of the United States and its own responsibilities, instead of preaching nonsense and using lies as a weapon. It will neither solve the problems faced by the United States nor make America great again," Wang said.

"We are in the 21st century and no one can and should return to the old path of Cold War confrontation of the 20th century," he said. "We hope Craft and other American politicians will mend their misguided ways and truly do their job." ■