Claims that UN voted for US to close overseas bases are false

"UN vote shocks the world!" reads a simplified Chinese caption on a RedNote post shared September 2, 2025. "This is the first time since the UN's founding that a resolution has been overwhelmingly passed targeting the military deployment of a single country."

The post shares a video featuring various shots of UN meetings, accompanied by Mandarin narration that claims the General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding the United States shut all of its overseas military bases and withdraw troops immediately.

It goes on to claim 141 member states voted in favour, five voted against and 35 abstained.

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Screenshot of the false RedNote post captured September 18, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The claim spread elsewhere on RedNote, Douyin and Facebook around the time of a Chinese military parade on September 3 (archived link). 

The procession in Beijing featuring massed troops and heavy weapons sparked comparisons between the Chinese and US militaries on social media (archive here and here). Some Chinese netizens pointed out that the United States has numerous bases abroad, while China has just one (archive here, here and here). 

The posts also spread before Trump's return to the United Nations on September 23, where he gave a speech before the General Assembly accusing the world body of failing to help him broker peace deals in Gaza and Ukraine (archived link).

The UN General Assembly had adopted more than 7,000 resolutions as of that day -- none of which explicitly require the United States to remove all its overseas bases (archived link).

The White House, the US mission to the United Nations and the Department of War -- previously known as the Department of Defense -- had not made any public statements about such a resolution, either (archive here, here and here). 

AFP could find no credible media reports about a UN decision ordering the United States to shutter all its overseas bases.

UN resolutions

In 1966, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on eliminating foreign military bases in Asia, Africa and Latin America, but it focused on colonial-era bases (archive here and here).

The resolution, like all General Assembly decisions, was a non-binding recommendation (archived link).

Only motions adopted by the 15-member Security Council are legally binding, requiring at least nine affirmative votes and no vetoes from any permanent members (archived link). 

The five permanent members are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, while the General Assembly elects the other 10 states for two-year terms (archived link). The General Assembly comprises 193 member states (archived link).

The vote tallies cited online correspond to a resolution the General Assembly adopted in March 2022 condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine (archived link).

US military bases

The United States has at least 128 military bases in at least 51 countries, according to a 2024 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (archived link).

Washington has closed or downsized some sites in recent years for diplomatic and security reasons, but not as a result of UN decisions.

Under an agreement with Baghdad, the United States is gradually withdrawing coalition forces from Iraq (archived link).

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Infographic with map showing the location of the main US military bases and facilities in the Middle East (AFP / Jonathan WALTER, Valentina BRESCHI)

In 2024, it pulled its troops from Niger after a military cooperation deal was scrapped (archived link).

The United States also withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, a year after signing a deal with the Taliban (archive here, here and here).

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about US military presence around the world.