billion in aid, endorsed WHO led survey"/>The WHO Director-General, Dr Tantesse, and even WHO as a whole, are facing criticism in dealing with the new crown.
A two-day World Health Assembly (WHA) opened in Geneva Monday (18) amid the gloom of the continuing global epidemic. Before the meeting, the United States and allies criticized China and WHO for their response to the epidemic and called for an independent investigation into the origins of the epidemic and the performance during the WHO epidemic. Controversy, such as TW membership, had also been the focus of attention, making it difficult for the World Health Assembly to main theme of the political game.
In the face of criticism, WHO Director-General Tantesse defended WHO's response to the outbreak in an opening address to the Conference. He responded, without naming the United States, that world health "does not need another organization, nor does it need another system ". He also called on Member States to fulfil their obligations and commitments to better support the World Health Organization financially and financially.
Chinese President Xi Jinping also delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the conference via tele-television. He defended China's response to the epidemic, saying it "released information as soon as possible... Do what you can ". While expressing continued support for the work of WHO, in contrast to Trump harsh criticism of WHO by the President of the United States, Xi Jinping pledged $2 billion in assistance to countries around the world in their anti-epidemic efforts over the next two years.
Response to the Independent Inquiry Appeal
In response to requests from more than 100 countries to independently investigate the causes of the outbreak, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tham Desai, expressed his willingness to launch an independent "assessment" of the global response to the new coronavirus epidemic as soon as possible.
"We can all learn from the epidemic ," Tantes said. Each country and organization must review the experience of epidemic prevention. The World Health Organization will be committed to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement. "
China has previously been reluctant to investigate the cause and spread of the epidemic. During the General Assembly, China expressed its readiness to accept a scientific, professional and impartial international assessment, led by the World Health Organization ," once the global epidemic has been effectively controlled ".
In the face of pressure from the United States and allies, a number of representatives of African and Caribbean countries expressed continued confidence and support for WHO.
How to continue the fight against the new coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic is expected to be the focus of discussion in the General Assembly. Representatives of 194 WHO member States will be discussed in videoconferencing. A number of questions will be asked about how the new coronavirus infects more than 4.5 million people and causes 300,000 death,.
Calls for independent investigations
European alliance (EU) is expected to take the lead, along with a number of countries, including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, in calling for an independent survey of how the global pandemic responds and the lessons it brings.
The EU speaker Batu-Henrickson (Virginie Battu-Henriksson) said that any form of review needs to answer a few questions.
billion in aid, endorsed WHO led survey"/>The WHO is likely to face enormous pressure at the meeting because of its handling of the epidemic.
"How did the pandemic spread? What are the epidemiological principles behind it? All of this is essential to avoid the next global pandemic. "
But it's not time to blame each other, she says.
WHO is likely to face significant pressure at the meeting because of its handling of the epidemic.
WHO speaker Dr. Margaret Harris (Dr Margaret Harris) said :" The World Health Assembly has always been a time for scrutiny. "
However, she said the organization would continue to focus on leading the overall global response, as well as on scientific understanding and solutions to the epidemic.
billion in aid, endorsed WHO led survey"/>Political Game between China and America
WHO should have represented the interests of all member states equally, but now it has become the center of the political game between China and the United States.
Last month, the United States, the largest donor to the WHO, stopped funding the organization after President Trump accusation the mismanagement of the WHO and the spread of the virus that sheltered China.
As a common country organization, WHO is an advisory body and does not require any country to share information authority. in practice
At the current meeting, there may also be calls for greater authority, to be given to WHO to allow the organization's investigators to enter the of the outbreak.
David Srida (Devi Sridhar), professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said :" The biggest challenge for an outbreak is that no country wants to have it. "
"Every country wants to deny its existence, and every country wants to downplay death. "
Currently, as part of the International Health Regulations, countries must report to WHO on emerging diseases in their countries. authority of the nature of these recommendations will go further.
Professor Srida said :" If WHO can send technical international mission teams, their job is not to blame or accusation, but to actually find the source of the outbreak and provide the best advice to other countries, it may be a positive way to avoid the outbreak. "
Why can't TW attend?
This is the first WHO conference since the outbreak of the new coronavirus global pandemic.
However, TW, one of the most successful places in the epidemic to protect indigenous populations, will not be invited to this decision-making international conference.
TW has received international approval for quickly and effectively stopping the spread of the virus and claims that it deserves a platform to share its experience with the world.
During recent weeks, the United States, the European Union, Japan and several other countries have supported TW request to attend the meeting on 18 May as an observer.
billion in aid, endorsed WHO led survey"/>After TW, baseball game has resumed under the social distance rule.
China, the source of the epidemic and criticized by the international community for its initial mishandling, has prevented TW from attending the WHO meeting since 2016. Experts say the dispute over TW is a politicized one.
"China is tough on this point, and it has nothing to do with public health, based entirely on China's relationship, with Taipei and President Tsai Ing-wen's rejection of China's TW sovereignty ," said Drew Thompson (Drew Thompson), a former. Defense Department official. He was in charge of Chinese mainland 、TW and Mongolian affairs.
The TW, of China's opposition to its membership in international organizations on the principle of "one China" has been actively lobbying multilateral organizations to give them a platform to speak, and TW participated in the World Health Assembly on behalf of the Taipei "of China and as an observer in the context of the last TW government's search for improved relationship with China. But TW have not been invited since Tsai Ing-wen was elected in 2017.
Experts say countries may not have thought it worth offending China in the past, but some countries may lose patience with the global pandemic.
"Now, it's not just relationship the health of TW people, it's the health of our own people, so you (China) are asking us to exchange this ," said Shirley Rigg (Shelley Rigger), professor of political science at Davidson College in the United States.
On the data, the TW epidemic was a success: the 23 million-strong region now has only 440 newly diagnosed cases and 7 death. cases
The United States parliament Foreign Affairs Committee (US Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee) sent a letter to 60 countries in early May calling for putting public health and security above politics and allowing TW to participate in the World Health Assembly.
The European Union, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have all agreed, but no country has spoken of abandoning the one-China principle.
America has long supported TW policies, and the epidemic may be another reason for its commitment to help join the WHO.
China's Tough Response
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Chinese state media have also recently published articles highlighting the sovereignty, of TW and blaming the United States.
billion in aid, endorsed WHO led survey"/>TW have previously attended meetings of the World Health Organization (photo) as an observer.
The official-run xinhua news agency last week published an article on the subject of TW participation in the world health conference, citing mainland scholars who criticized TW's bid to attend the world health conference as "a complete false proposition and a political manipulation full of lies ".
Xinhua also stressed that TW participation in the World Health Assembly "must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle ", referring to the TW's inability to attend, which was" caused authorities the DPP ".
To other countries that supported TW participation, China issued warnings by economic means. When New Zealand expressed support for TW participation in the World Health Assembly, Beijing said it would affect bilateral trade relationship. between the two countries
To that end, the New Zealand Foreign minister stated at a journalist meeting that "we must stand firm" and that "true friendship is based on equality and on the ability to hold different opinions in that friendship ". "
WHO has indicated that TW membership or participation rights, is entirely dependent on the position of all member States. WHO also said it had communicated with TW health officials and shared information on epidemic prevention.
Solomon (Steven Solomon), law adviser to the World Health Organization, said that while the Director-General of WHO had a authority in principle to extend an invitation to non-member States, such an invitation would only be extended with the explicit support of member States, which was not currently the case.
