UNGA 2020: US hits out at China’s role in spread of Covid pandemic

The US has decried China’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and hit out at UN Security Council members more generally in a debate on global governance in the post-Covid-19 era.

Members of the Security Council met on Thursday amid a UN General Assembly summit held virtually because of the pandemic.

US ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft, echoing statements by US president Donald Trump earlier in the week, accused China of grave failures at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague unto the world: China. The Chinese Communist Party's decision to hide the origins of this virus, minimise its danger and suppress scientific cooperation transforms a local epidemic into a global pandemic,” Ms Craft said.

“More importantly, those decisions cost hundreds of thousands of lives around the world.”

Ms Craft also hit out at other UN Security Council members over the debate in which nations had called for greater international co-operation in the face of the pandemic and re-commitment to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

She said she was “disgusted” and “ashamed” of the council and blasted members saying they had decided to “focus on political grudges rather than the critical issue at hand”.

In response, China and Russia re-intervened in the UN Security Council meeting to rebuke the US over its stance.

“China resolutely opposes and rejects the baseless accusations by the United States. For quite a while, some US politicians have been obsessed with attacking other countries and UN bodies, abusing the platform of the United Nations and its Security Council,” China’s ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun said.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the United States was out of step with the international community.

The UN’s response to the coronavirus has been hampered by infighting amongst its members, most notably disagreements between the world’s two largest economies: China and the United States.

In July, Washington submitted to the UN secretary general its notice to withdraw from the WHO by July 6, 2021, a body it says has fallen under disproportionate influence from Beijing.

The Security Council in July adopted Resolution 2532 demanding a worldwide ceasefire in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the passing of the resolution was delayed for weeks because of US reservations over mentions of the WHO in its wording.

Speaking at the start of the Security Council debate, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said the “dark shadow” Covid-19 cast across the world should serve as a warning to international leaders.

“[Coronavirus] has killed 1 million people around the world, infected over 70 million and remains largely out of control,” he said.

“This was the result of a lack of global preparedness, co-operation, unity and solidarity.

“We urgently need innovative thinking on global governance and multilateralism.”

Mr Guterres reiterated the  need for the ceasefire promised in Resolution 2532 to be realised and called on member states to “silence the guns around the world by the end of this year”.

“Conflict, human rights abuses and stalled progress on development reinforce each other,” he said.

“We are not keeping pace with the world as it is.”

The former Portuguese prime minister added the Covid-19 pandemic should serve as a warning on threats from climate change.

“If we meet these with the same disunity as we have seen this year I fear the worst,” he said.