Tensions with China and WHO, US prevents UN from issuing global ceasefire resolution

All 15 members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agreed in principle to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for a global ceasefire on March 23, but have since disagreed on the wording of the resolution, RT reported.

A meeting of the Security Council at its headquarters in New York, USA. Photo: DW

Many unnamed diplomats revealed that while China insisted on including support for the WHO and its role in responding to the pandemic in the resolution, the US demanded that all references to the WHO be removed and that a "transparent" stance on Covid-19 be added.

France and Tunisia drafted a text they believed contained “compromise language” and sent it to other members of the Security Council on May 7. However, the US rejected the draft resolution on the afternoon of May 8 (local time). Some sources familiar with the matter asserted that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo personally intervened to prevent the resolution from being passed.

A spokesman for the US mission to the UN said in a statement that Washington wants the Security Council to "either issue a limited resolution to support the ceasefire, or an expanded resolution that fully addresses the need for renewed commitment by member states to transparency and accountability in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak."

President Donald Trump and top US government officials are now accusing China of concealing information, allowing the new coronavirus to spread outside the mainland.

The Trump administration also accused the WHO of being "biased and accommodating" to China, and of making mistakes in handling the crisis that caused the Covid-19 pandemic to rage globally.

US officials also believe in the hypothesis that the dangerous pathogen originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

Beijing has denied all the above accusations, and asked Washington not to "politicize" the epidemic or "play the blame game" if it cannot provide evidence against China.