Two challenges await China at the WHO meeting 2
The World Health Assembly (WHA), the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), is scheduled to open its annual session in Geneva, Switzerland, today.
The European Union (EU) and Australia are expected to also push for an independent international investigation into the origin of the virus at the meeting.
Chinese President Xi Jinping supervises Covid-19 prevention work in Beijing on February 10.
While Covid-19 is still raging globally, with more than 4.8 million infections and nearly 317,000 deaths, anger at the initial response of China, where the pandemic started, seems to have not subsided.
Australia is a typical example, when China decided to suspend meat imports from four of its processing plants for `technical reasons` and threatened to boycott the goods.
`The evidence cannot be lost. I think Australia, the US, the UK, as well as other countries around the world, all want to know what happened, because we don’t want to see it happen again,` Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.
As the EU deliberates on the proposal ahead of the WHA meeting, the European Commission said a draft resolution is expected to call for `an independent assessment of the lessons from the international response to Covid-19`.
Australia said this could be done through the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, established after the 2014 Ebola epidemic, and the Committee for the Assessment of International Health Regulations, which reviewed the response.
With the support of the US, many countries are also pushing to allow Taiwan, a rare place in the world to successfully handle Covid-19, to participate in the WHA meeting as an observer.
WHO said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization’s Ethiopian director general, did not have the authority to invite Taiwan to the WHA, because it did not receive `clear support` from member states.
Taiwan has participated in the WHA as an observer since 2009, when relations between Beijing and Taipei were still warm.
A spokesperson for the US mission at WHO said Washington wants Taipei to join the WHA as an observer, because its successful experience in fighting Covid-19 `will bring significant benefits to the whole world`.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said they `resolutely oppose` the countries proposing to invite Taiwan to the meeting, and criticized the call for an independent investigation into the matter.
`Certain countries insist on discussing proposals related to Taiwan in order to politicize a public health issue. This only causes serious interference in the conference process, and at the same time
According to Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing and an advisor to the Chinese government, the country is confident that the majority of the country will not agree with letting Taiwan
`China’s basic stance is clearly to deny criticism, focusing on its efforts in the global fight against Covid-19. China will not change its position, so it will strongly oppose these
Head of Taiwan’s health agency Chen Shizhong at a press conference about efforts to attend WHA in Taipei on May 15.
Legally, there is no provision in the WHO’s laws, resolutions and regulations that prevents Tedros from inviting Taiwan to the WHA as an observer, said Julian Ku, a law professor at Hofstra University, USA.
`It is a reality in world politics today that most countries are not willing to risk their relations with China by making pro-Taiwan moves. As long as Beijing remains
Scott Kennedy, senior advisor at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the US can hardly complain about China’s influence in the WHO today, because they have allowed Beijing to increase its influence.
Experts assess that the current conflict involving the WHO reflects a broad geopolitical issue between the US and its allies and China.
`It is difficult to imagine a global health organization that operates effectively without China. It is also difficult for the US to consider Taiwan’s participation in the WHA as a red line,` said Natasha Kassam, a former Chinese diplomat.
