Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders will give speeches at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, which marks the 75th anniversary of the U.N.'s founding in 1945.

The occasion provides another stage for China’s growing efforts to influence the international community, and to usurp the leadership role held by the United States in the U.N., according to a Hong Kong scholar.

China has been undermining the universal values of liberal democracies and instead promoting its autocratic ideology, said Kenneth Chan, associate professor at the Baptist University’s Department of Government and International Studies.

“When some experts wish to speak up about China’s problems, China will counter that by banding together with some developing nations and putting out a joint statement, which upends the U.N.'s system,” Chan said.

China has tried to suppress criticism regarding human rights violations in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and used economic favors to build ties with developing countries, he added.

The United States has taken a unilateral approach to foreign policy under Trump, which led to the U.S. “losing more friends than they made” and has weakened Washington’s ability to head off China’s rise, Chan said.

“Trump broke the mold in many respects, and went further than other world leaders in tackling China. But he tends to go solo, which leads to some traditional allies of the U.S. not being able to catch up,” Chan said.

“It is difficult for Western nations to cooperate on the issue of China because of Trump’s attitude of contempt towards his allies,” he added.

Chan also urged Hong Kong’s civil society to build solidarity with people around the world, and to speak out on international platforms such as the U.N.

“We should put the focus back on human rights, instead of the China-style disregard of sovereignty. People should seize the opportunity to speak up while they can,” he said.

The People’s Republic of China was admitted to the U.N. in 1971. In recent years, Chinese officials have taken more top spots in international bodies, including the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the International Court of Justice.

Qu Dongyu, China’s Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, won the vote to head the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations last June. He received 108 out of 191 votes, far more than the U.S.-backed candidate Davit Kirvalidze.

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