A responsible member

China's United Nations membership fee would increase to 3.189 percent of the 2010-12 UN budget - an increase of nearly 20 percent over its payment between 2007 and 2009. China expressed that it would accept it if this share is calculated according to the existing membership fee policy and in accordance with the affordability principle.

As everybody knows, the principle of affordability is the basis for calculating the reasonable share of fees for each member-state; and since its founding, affordability has been a fundamental principle with the UN in charging membership dues.

It is unfair to charge membership dues by only considering the size of a country's economy without taking into consideration of its per capita GDP. This is because per capita GDP is the benchmark of how the real living standard of a country's people is. It is important to make sure that member countries are capable of paying their dues.