• About us
  • Contact us
  • Our team
  • Terms of Service
Friday, August 8, 2025
Kashmir Images - Latest News Update
Epaper
  • TOP NEWS
  • CITY & TOWNS
  • LOCAL
  • BUSINESS
  • NATION
  • WORLD
  • SPORTS
  • OPINION
    • EDITORIAL
    • ON HERITAGE
    • CREATIVE BEATS
    • INTERALIA
    • WIDE ANGLE
    • OTHER VIEW
    • ART SPACE
  • Photo Gallery
  • CARTOON
  • EPAPER
No Result
View All Result
Kashmir Images - Latest News Update
No Result
View All Result
Home Latest News

WHO to kick off international meet amid US-China tensions

Press Trust of india by Press Trust of india
May 18, 2020
in Latest News, WORLD
A A
0
‘Now is not the time to relax measures’: WHO Europe
FacebookTwitterWhatsapp

Geneva: The World Health Organization will on Monday kick off its first ever virtual assembly, but fears abound that US-China tensions could derail the strong action needed to address the COVID-19 crisis.

The World Health Assembly, which has been trimmed from the usual three weeks to just two days, Monday and Tuesday, is expected to focus almost solely on COVID-19, which in a matter of months has killed more than 310,000 globally, and infected nearly 4.7 million.

Related posts

Decades of injustice against tribals in J&K ended in August 2019: LG Sinha

Lieutenant Governor’s greetings on Raksha Bandhan

August 8, 2025
SC says will consider listing of pleas challenging abrogation of Article 370

SC to hear plea on restoration of J&K’s statehood on August 14

August 8, 2025

A number of heads of state, government chiefs, health ministers and other dignitaries are expected to attend the meeting, which is due to kick off around noon on Monday.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday the event would be “one of the most important (WHAs) since we were founded in 1948”.

But the chance of reaching agreement on global measures to address the crisis could be threatened by steadily deteriorating relations between the world’s two largest economies over the pandemic.

US President Donald Trump last week threatened to cut ties with China, where the outbreak began late last year, over its role in the spread of COVID-19, and has repeatedly made unproven allegations that the virus originated in a Chinese lab.

He has also suspended funding to the WHO over allegations it initially downplayed the seriousness of the outbreak, and was kowtowing to Beijing.

Despite the tensions, countries hope to adopt by consensus a resolution urging a joint response to the pandemic.

The resolution, tabled by the European Union, calls for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the international response to the COVID crisis.

Consultations around the text concluded last week after “tough” negotiations, according to Nora Kronig, who heads the international affairs division of Switzerland’s public health office.

After several days, a tentative agreement was reached to approve the resolution, which also calls for more equitable access for tests, medical equipment, potential treatments and a possible future vaccine.

An EU source hailed the draft as “ambitious”, and pointed out that if it does indeed pass by consensus as expected, it would mark the first time a global forum has achieved unanimous support for a text on the COVID-19 response.

The source said countries had not shied away from thorny topics, including a call for more WHO reform after determining that its capacities “have proven insufficient to prevent a crisis of this magnitude”.

The resolution also calls for the WHO to work closely with other international agencies and countries to identify the animal source of the virus and figure out how it first jumped to humans.

While diplomats have agreed in principle on the draft resolution, observers voiced concerns that in the current politicised atmosphere, some countries might still choose to break the consensus next week.

“My hope is that we will be able to join consensus,” US Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Andrew Bremberg said Friday.

The United States and Europe are at loggerheads over future vaccine access, while Washington has also accused China of trying to steal US immunisation research.

And Washington is also leading a number of countries in demanding that the WHO end its exclusion of Taiwan — considered by Beijing to be part of its territory — and allow it to access next week’s assembly as an observer.

“While this has been an ongoing concern for several years, this has taken on a heightened attention this year in response to the global pandemic,” Bremberg said.

“Allowing for some sort of meaningful participation would seem to be the minimum that the WHO could do.” The UN health agency has, however, insisted that such a move would require a resolution by member states, who in 1972 decided Beijing was China’s sole legitimate representative.

It has also suggested it can only issue an invite with Beijing’s blessing.

Taiwan was invited to attend the WHA for a number of years as an observer, but that stopped in 2016, with the entrance of a new Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, who refuses to recognise the concept that Taiwan is part of “one China”.

Nearly 15 countries, including Belize, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands and Honduras, have written to Tedros asking that the question of Taiwan’s participation be added to the agenda.

The United States, which will be represented during the assembly by Health Secretary Alex Azar, is meanwhile not among the countries who are asking the WHA to make a call on the issue of Taiwan’s participation.

Several diplomatic sources cautioned that putting this issue to a vote even under normal conditions would be a drawn-out process, and that doing so during a short, virtual meeting would be an unsurmountable logistical challenge.

It would “torpedo” the entire assembly, one diplomatic source warned.

Previous Post

Record jump of 5,242 COVID-19 cases in 24 hrs, tally reaches 96,169; death toll touches 3,029

Next Post

‘Amphan’ to intensify into super cyclone by evening: MHA

Press Trust of india

Press Trust of india

Next Post
‘Amphan’ to intensify into super cyclone by evening: MHA

'Amphan' to intensify into super cyclone by evening: MHA

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ePaper

  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Our team
  • Terms of Service
E-Mailus: kashmirimages123@gmail.com

© 2024 Kashmir Images - Designed by GITS.

No Result
View All Result
  • TOP NEWS
  • CITY & TOWNS
  • LOCAL
  • BUSINESS
  • NATION
  • WORLD
  • SPORTS
  • OPINION
    • EDITORIAL
    • ON HERITAGE
    • CREATIVE BEATS
    • INTERALIA
    • WIDE ANGLE
    • OTHER VIEW
    • ART SPACE
  • Photo Gallery
  • CARTOON
  • EPAPER

© 2024 Kashmir Images - Designed by GITS.