The United Nations Headquarters is pictured as it will be temporarily closed for tours due to the spread of coronavirus in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, on 10 March 2020. File Photo/Reuters/Carlo Allegri
By Michelle Nichols | Reuters
NEW YORK, US, 9 May 2020
China and the United States both supported a draft United Nations Security Council resolution confronting the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday and it was “shocking and regretful” that Washington changed its mind on Friday, a Chinese diplomat said.
A US diplomat refuted the Chinese comment, saying there was no US agreement on the text.
For more than six weeks the 15-member council has been trying to agree on a text that ultimately aims to back a 23 March call by UN chief Antonio Guterres for a ceasefire in global conflicts so the world can focus on the pandemic.
But talks have been stymied by a stand-off between China and the United States over whether to mention the World Health Organization. The United States does not want a reference, China has insisted it be included, while some other members see the mention – or not – of WHO as a marginal issue, diplomats said.
Washington has halted funding for the WHO, a UN agency, after President Donald Trump accused it of being “China-centric” and promoting China’s “disinformation” about the outbreak, assertions the WHO denies.
It appeared the Security Council had reached a compromise late on Thursday, diplomats said and according to the latest version of a French- and Tunisian drafted-resolution.
Instead of naming the WHO, the draft referenced “specialized health agencies.” The WHO is the only such agency. But the United States rejected that language on Friday, diplomats said, because it was an obvious reference to the Geneva-based WHO.
“The United States had agreed to the compromise text and it’s shocking and regretful that the US changed its position,” said the Chinese diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, on Saturday, adding that China supported the draft.
The US diplomat, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no US agreement on the text, which the US mission to the United Nations had sent to Washington for review on Thursday.
Diplomats said that during negotiations both China and the United States had raised the prospect of a veto on the issue of whether WHO is mentioned or not. A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by France, Russia, Britain, the United States or China to pass.
A State Department spokesperson said on Friday the United States had worked constructively and accused China of repeatedly blocking compromises during negotiations.
While the Security Council – charged with maintaining international peace and security – cannot do much to deal with the coronavirus itself, diplomats and analysts say it could have projected global unity by backing Guterres’ ceasefire call.
French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière on Friday said “we are still trying to achieve a positive result and trying to see if there is a possible compromise.”
China can keep getting “shocked” …
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This is to portray the US as unreliable and acting in bad faith. We have to presume that if the US and China had mutually agreed, there should have been a combined statement or a press conference to announce it. Since, none of that has happened, how can China claim that it has been “shocked and regretful”. The Chinese always cry foul when it doesn’t go their way. Why are they dragging the WHO into the equation who has not lived up to its expectation of neutrality and has been “China centric” as Trump accused. One country who has been especially rejected and treated with complete disregard is Taiwan and its 23 million people. China has relied on the WHO to do its dirty work by preventing Taiwan’s participation and even though its in need of money, it rejected Taiwan’s contribution. But the cunning Chinese comes from behind to pay $30 million to compensate for the loss of the money WHO rejected from Taiwan. This reminds me of the Chinese ploy to pay war reparations to the British during the Young husband invasion of 1904 and later claim Tibet because of this act of paying reparation on behalf of Tibet. This is the sort of games the Chinese play to claim other people’s land, seas, islands and water ways. So, in this case, it’s the trick to claim Taiwan as “part of China”. The US must put its foot down and not budge in any way. The world has never seen such a tragedy as this and the secretive CCP is responsible for this. So far four million people across the globe are infected and 279,000 have lost their lives. The US alone has lost 80,000 lives to date. It has been an absolute catastrophy for the whole world and the Chinese communist Party is responsible for this crime against humanity. It must pay for its crime and make sure such calamity never happens again in future.