Interview: China's experience getting more attention in UN, says program officer

BONN, Germany, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's experience in various fields such as anti-desertification and climate change has attracted more and more attention in the United Nations (UN), a UN official told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Jia Xiaoxia, program officer at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), began to work with the UN in 2018 in the southwestern German city of Bonn where the third largest UN compound in Europe is located.

She said that she heard lots of conversations conducted in Chinese nowadays in the grey UN building by the river of Rhine, and realized that China's expertise and experience in various fields are widely welcomed and discussed.

In the UNCCD, China's efforts and achievements in combating desertification have attracted the attention of Jia's foreign colleagues, as China has explored ways to combine ecological governance and improving people's livelihood.

"If a colleague wants some new suggestions or ideas for new projects, he or she will come over and ask me how China manages it," Jia said.

"China's experience in combating desertification provides a model for developing countries. The UNCCD has closely watched the case of the Kubuqi Desert in China, where anti-desertification efforts were led not only by the local government, but also by governments, enterprises, individuals, and society combined as a whole," Jia said.

Nowadays, the UNCCD pays more attention to combining China's new technologies such as utilizing big data analysis, digital platform, cloud services with the experience of traditional land management, said Jia.

The UNCCD has also recognized the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, she said, noting that a vast area of land between the Asian economic circle and the European economic circle is affected by desertification, and "China can give full play to its advantages and experience in ecological governance in these areas."

Speaking of the 50th anniversary of China's restoration of its lawful seat in the UN, Jia said she feels that China has gained more and more respect in various fields of expertise.

Jia added that she also sees China becoming increasingly open to the world, and the country plays a more important role on multilateral stages like the UN.

Many Chinese overseas students have applied for UN internships and in this way, more and more Chinese ideas, models, and culture will be brought into the UN by the younger generation, Jia said.