The United States is "destroying" multilateralism and "ending" international rules by imposing sanctions on two officials of the International Criminal Court over an investigation into whether US forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan, Beijing said on Friday.

The US is placing its own interests above international law, and its diplomacy has "fallen to that of sanctions, threats and intimidation", Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news conference.

The US announced the sanctions on ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and the ICC's Head of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division Phakiso Mochochoko on Wednesday, which were followed by criticisms from the ICC and the European Union.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations secretary-general, also said the UN will "continue to closely follow developments on this matter", according to a UN news report.

"Such reactions show that US bullying is being ever more strongly rejected by more and more members of the international community," Hua said.

In another development, Hua said on Friday that China is following closely the financial difficulties the UN is facing, as well as the impact that it may have on the UN's work, as the institution prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary.

As the second largest contributor to the UN's regular budget, China has fully paid its membership dues for this year and has always fully implemented its financial obligations to the UN, Hua said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter to the 193 UN member nations that the UN is facing a cash crisis because of nonpayment of dues by member states, The Associated Press reported in April.

The US is "the largest country in terms of unpaid dues" to the UN, which have taken up "more than two thirds of the unpaid dues by all countries", Hua said.

"This is the major reason for the UN's financial difficulties," she said.

It is in line with the interests of all parties to stick to multilateralism, maintain the core role of the UN in international affairs and tackle global challenges through unity and cooperation, Hua said, adding that China hopes to work with all countries to let the UN play a bigger role in promoting world peace and development.

Regarding an update the US has issued on its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, Hua said that Washington should stop blaming others for its mistakes in controlling COVID-19, which "disrupts international efforts to tackle the pandemic and seriously impacts developing countries in urgent need of international support".

In the update issued on Thursday, the US said the WHO "has failed badly" in COVID-19 responses and declined to adopt reforms, "starting with demonstrating its independence from" the Communist Party of China.

China has made huge sacrifices to control COVID-19 in the shortest time possible, while the US, which "could have done better", had seen its diagnosed cases exceeding 6.1 million by Thursday, Hua said.

The US should reflect upon itself more and take more effective measures to save lives, Hua said, adding that it's "impossible" for the WHO, which has more than 190 member states, to "serve only a certain country".

"To crackdown on or blackmail the WHO means to ignore life, challenge humanitarianism and disrupt international cooperation to tackle the pandemic," she said.