China faces the “hour of reckoning” .. 100 countries want to investigate the origin of Corona
China faces the “hour of reckoning” .. 100 countries want to investigate the origin of Corona
5/18/2020 17:33
[Follow-up]
Russian President Vladimir Putin described his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, once as “the only fighter”, but the description, which came in the context of a joke, has come true in the light of the Corona pandemic crisis.
Even Russia, which has strong ties with China, joined nearly 100 countries in support of a resolution during the WHO General Assembly meeting, which begins on Monday, and calls for an independent investigation into the virus crisis, especially the primary Chinese treatment of the epidemic, which has been widely criticized.
The decision was drafted by the European Union after Australia pushed its proposal, according to US news network CNN.
The matter was greeted with an angry response from Beijing, which accused Australia of taking a “very irresponsible” step, that could disrupt international cooperation in fighting the epidemic, which has nearly 5 million cases worldwide.
The draft resolution is to be presented to the annual meeting of the WHO General Assembly in Geneva.
The wording of the resolution calling for a neutral and comprehensive assessment of the response of the World Health Organization to the virus is less severe than the one initially proposed by Australia, which calls for an investigation into China’s responsibility for the start of the epidemic.
And it may be necessary to obtain the approval of the majority of member states in global health for the decision, especially Russia, which has strong ties with China.
However, this does not mean that the Chinese government should rest assured, although it does not target a specific country, as it may lead to the display of embarrassing information for Beijing.
China had said earlier that it would support any investigation by the World Health Organization, which has been accused by Western countries of loving Beijing and excessively relying on it, a charge rejected by WHO officials.
Last week, Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming said that Beijing is open to an investigation conducted only by global health. “We are transparent and we have nothing to hide,” he added.
CNN says the decision, if passed, could harm China’s international standing, which has already been affected by the emerging Corona virus, and the United States, for example, is adopting a narrative that Beijing is responsible for the epidemic.
Although the World Health Organization has praised China’s actions to contain the virus, the investigation that may begin soon will shed light on the information China knows about the start of the virus and when it shared it with the international organization, and that could embarrass Beijing and put it in a difficult position before the world
alliraqnews.com
