US aims to rejoin UN scientific and educational organization to push back on China

By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration says the U.S. will rejoin the U.N.’s educational and scientific organization after a five-year absence that began while Donald Trump was president. The State Department said it had delivered a letter seeking re-admission to the Paris-based body, known as UNESCO, late last week. The U.S. and UNESCO have had a turbulent relationship over the past four decades after sparring mainly over ideological issues during the Cold War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more recently. Former President Ronald Reagan withdrew the U.S. from UNESCO in 1983, but former President George W. Bush re-joined in 2002. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agency in 2017, citing its alleged anti-Israel bias.