The United States (U.S.), Russia and China made provoking remarks during the recently conducted United Nations Security Council (U.N. S.C.) meeting that was held over the handling of Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
During the meeting, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (U.N.) – Antonio Guterres told the body that they had failed in their handling of COVID-19. Guterres said that lack of global preparedness, cooperation, unity and solidarity, has resulted in the spread of COVID-19. As of now, there are 3,21,41,225 cases of COVID-19 globally and there have been 9,81,808 casualties.
Speaking on the occasion, Guterres said, “The pandemic is a clear test of international cooperation – a test we have essentially failed.”
Sharing his thoughts on twitter, Antonio tweeted, “#COVID19 is a clear test of international cooperation – a test we are failing so far. We need more, and better, multilateralism that works effectively and delivers for the people we serve.”
U.S., which is going for Presidential polls in November 2020, has always said that China is responsible for spreading COVID-19. The U.S. President – Donald Trump has been very vocal about it. Taking his thoughts forward, the U.S. Ambassador to U.N. – Kelly Craft reiterated the same thought. The U.S. is the world’s most affected country with 70,04,670 cases and 2,02,707 casualties.
Kelly Craft express astonishment and disgust. She even expressed discontent towards the council for providing opportunity to member states for addressing their political grudges at this critical point.
“You know, shame on each of you. I am astonished and I am disgusted by the content of today’s discussion. I am actually really quite ashamed of this Council – members of the Council who took this opportunity to focus on political grudges rather than the critical issue at hand. My goodness,” said Kelly Craft.
Post-her speech, Kelly left the meeting, which drew a lot of flak from member states. Her Chinese counterpart – Zhang Jun who spoke after Kelly left, asked the U.S. to stop blaming others and stop creating troubles for the world.
Zhang Jun said, “Enough is enough. You have created enough troubles for the world already. … The US should understand that blaming others will not solve its own problems.”
Speaking in English, Zhang continued, “With the most advanced medical technologies and system in the world, why has the US turned out to have the most confirmed cases and fatalities?”
Referring to U.S. accusations, Zhang said that if anyone is to be held accountable, it should be few U.S. politicians. Hiss remarks were backed by the Russia which made the argument even more gruesome.
The other member states were also not happy with the tone of U.S. Ambassador. Diplomats termed her behaviour as very aggressive. Without naming anyone, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation – Sergey Lavrov said that the pandemic has increased the regional differences between the member states.
Lavrov said, “We see attempts on the part of individual countries to use the current situation in order to move forward their narrow interests of the moment, in order to settle the score with an undesirable government or geopolitical competitors.”
The U.N. has been pushing for a co-ordinated global effort where the COVID-19 vaccine would be available for all, but neither the U.S. nor China has signed-up for this cause. U.N. wants member states to think of human first, abandon the Cold War and work together towards the betterment of the entire mankind.
Urging the world for making COVID-19 vaccine accessible for all, Antonio said, “We are working to advance #COVID19 vaccines as a global public good. Yet some countries are reportedly making side deals exclusively for their own populations. Such vaccinationalism is unfair and self-defeating. None of us is safe, until all of us are safe. #UNGA.”
Besides, U.S. had earlier announced to quit the membership of Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) after Trump accused it of becoming a Chinese puppet.
