The clash between America and China threatens to engulf the World Health Assembly
AFTER THE second world war the world decided it needed a new global department of public health. Andrija Stampar, a round-faced, bespectacled, Yugoslavian doctor, opened the first-ever World Health Assembly in 1948. The leading lights of global health assembled in Geneva to hear him explain how the effort to create the World Health Organisation was “never impaired by any important disharmony”.
America-centric would be more accurate. The agency is stuffed with American experts from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services, and many others. Moreover, America is the biggest financial contributor to the agency by far. China, for its part, is tightly vetting the research that its scientists are allowed to publish on covid-19.
That will make it even harder for America to win support in its campaign to get the assembly to admit Taiwan as an observer. Observer status, granted to major NGOs such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Gavi , gives members the right to speak at the WHA but not to vote. But observer status is also a step towards recognition of a state’s sovereignty, which is why Taiwan seeks it and China opposes it.
The clash has drawn fire on the director-general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom, a mild-mannered and amiable Ethiopian. Taiwan’s supporters say he has the power to invite Taiwan anyway. In fact, he does not have the authority because he is not empowered to over-rule member-states. To some extent these political machinations are taking place where they should: in the assembly, whose role is to set policy.
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Canadian premier said China mishandled coronavirus, then China sniped back in a big way'A large body of facts and data suggest that China did not play down, obfuscate or cover up the dangers posed by the novel coronavirus when it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan,' the Chinese consulate stated.
Weiterlesen »
Hundreds of villages locked down in northeastern China after fresh coronavirus outbreakHundreds of villages in China's northeastern Jilin province have been placed under lockdown after a cluster of new coronavirus cases were reported in the region, local government officials say.
Weiterlesen »
EU official says China trying to exploit division within Europe, member states must remain unifiedThe European Union's foreign policy chief cautioned member states against allowing China to take advantage of diplomatic divisions between them in order to impose their 'state-centric' stance.
Weiterlesen »
Trump considers restoring 10 percent of WHO funding, matching China contributionsIn a post on Twitter, the U.S. president emphasized that no final decision had been made and that funding for the global health agency remained frozen.
Weiterlesen »
India cases surpass the number in ChinaIndia’s confirmed number of coronavirus cases surpassed China’s on Saturday, as India's Health Ministry reported a spike to 85,940 total infections and 2,752 deaths.
Weiterlesen »
U.S. Lawmakers Work on Stimulus; India Coronavirus Cases Surpass ChinaIndia overtook China to become the country with the highest number of coronavirus cases in Asia, while U.S. lawmakers are drumming up further stimulus as disruptions from the pandemic continue to weigh on the economy.
Weiterlesen »