The 194 countries of the WHO meet Monday virtually for the first time in the history of the organization to discuss the international response to the pandemic, with Sino-American tensions, discussions on Taiwan and vaccines as subjects friction. Many heads of state, government and ministers are scheduled to speak at this World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the UN agency, which opens at noon (10 a.m. universal time), and must be completed the next day at midday.
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Despite the escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing, the countries hope to adopt by consensus a long resolution brought by the European Union. She asked to launch "as soon as possible (...) an evaluation process" to examine the international health response and the measures taken by WHO in response to the pandemic. The text also calls on WHO to "collaborate closely with the World Organization for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and countries (...) to identify the source zoonotic virus and to determine by which way it was introduced into the human population, (...)notably through scientific missions and collaboration missions in the field. ”
It also demands "universal, rapid and equitable access to all the products (...) necessary for the response to the pandemic" , and stresses the role of "large-scale vaccination against Covid-19, as as a global public good, to prevent, stem and eliminate transmission in order to end the pandemic ” .
“Informal agreement was reached to adopt the resolution by consensus. This will be an important result because WHO will be the first world forum to find itself unanimously on a text, " said a European diplomatic source. According to this source, even the "difficult" questions are tackled there, including the origin of the virus and the WHO reform, demanded with great shouts by the United States. "No subject was avoided" in the resolution, whether in particular "to continue to reform the WHO and in particular its capacities which have proved insufficient to prevent a crisis of this magnitude" , assured the same European source to AFP.
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"I hope we can join the consensus," said Andrew Bremberg, the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, on Friday. Washington, which accuses Beijing of having concealed the scale of the epidemic, is engaged in a standoff with the WHO, accused by the American president Donald Trump of having "been planted" in the management of the pandemic in aligning with the Chinese position. He immediately suspended the American contribution to the WHO.
Institutional reform, Taiwan, access to vaccines, sending experts to China ... There is no shortage of angry subjects, but the question of the origin of the virus remains the central point of the war of Sino-American words. The United States demands an investigation on the subject, like Australia, and suspects Beijing of having hidden a laboratory accident which would have been at the origin of the pandemic. Washington now accuses China of trying to hack American research on a vaccine, in the midst of American-European rivalry over a future vaccine. And US President Donald Trump has threatened to "cut off all relations" with Beijing.
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At the same time, the American government believes that the WHO neglected an early warning from Taiwan on the severity of the coronavirus - which the UN agency denies. And the United States, supported by certain countries, called on the WHO to "invite Taiwan" to the WHO, despite opposition from China. However, after having benefited from observer status, Taiwan was excluded from the organization in 2016, the year in which Tsai Ing-wen came to power. The president refuses to recognize the principle of the unity of the island and mainland China within the same country.
In Geneva, the WHO ensures that it is up to the member states alone to decide whether to accept Taiwan. It remains to be seen whether a country will call a vote. If there were a vote, it would "torpedo" the very functioning of the assembly due to the logistical problems it would pose, said a diplomatic source.
