India is all set to assume an important role in the World Health Organisation as it is slated to take charge of the organisation’s executive board by the end of this month. The USA and Australia have sensed an opportunity with India at the helm, to bring transparency in the WHO and expose the collusion of China and WHO as both the countries urge to take a “firm stand” against China.
ThePrint reports that on the WHO’s 147th session which will be held on May 22 through a video conference, India will likely assume the charge of the powerful executive board of the WHO.
The executive board is empowered to implement the decisions and policies of the World Health Assembly — the main decision-making body of the WHO. The US, Japan and Australia are sensing an opportunity with India at the helm and hence are pushing India to take an anti-China stance.
The US and especially, Australia in the past few weeks have stepped up the offensive against China and the WHO. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a phone conversation with PM Modi has already conveyed that India being a “natural partner and like-minded democracy,” Australia expects India to side with them as the former begins a full-fledged assault against China as it is determined to order an investigation in Wuhan over the origins of the Wuhan coronavirus.
Last week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had sought for an international investigation related to the ongoing pandemic while speaking to Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, prompting a heavy backlash from China. Australia is also one of the few countries seeking to improve the WHO’s “transparency”. Australia is aggressively lobbying with world leaders to push for an inquiry into the pandemic which has infected over 3 million people, has cost lakhs of lives and plummeted the world economy into a state of recession — a stand echoed by the Australian parliament.
Morrison’s stand rattled China as its ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye resorted to threatening the country. In a newspaper interview, Cheng claimed that the “Chinese public” might avoid Australian products and desist from pursuing education in Australian universities. “Maybe the ordinary people will say ‘Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef? The parents of the students would also think … whether this is the best place to send their kids.” He further added that Chinese tourists may have “second thoughts” about travelling to Australia.
Cheng tried to press on Australia’s jugular vein as China is the country’s largest trading partner with the dragon accounting for more than one-third of the country’s total exports. Additionally, China also sends over a million tourists and students each year to Australia. China must have expected that Australia would scale down its calls for an international investigation after Cheng’s comments but to China’s surprise, Australia refused to be bog downed by China’s empty threats.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne hit back at China’s attempts to coerce China as she said, “We reject any suggestion that economic coercion is an appropriate response to a call for such an assessment, when what we need is global cooperation.”
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham also hit out at China as he said, “Australia is no more going to change our policy position on a major public health issue because of economic coercion or threats of coercion than we would change our policy position in matters of national security”. He further added that the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Frances Adamson had called on Cheng for his “disappointing remarks.”
The minister also said, “But our government is very clear that we’ve seen enormous loss of life around the world of hundreds of thousands of people, huge economic disruption to billions of lives across the planet, and of course that warrants transparent investigation to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The US on its part too is keeping the heat on China as it has stopped its funding to the WHO. The Trump administration is also pushing for an investigation into Wuhan’s Institute of Virology only to be stonewalled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Earlier, when asked about the possibility of the virus originating from Wuhan’s laboratory, Donald Trump replied, “We’re looking at it, a lot of people are looking at it. It seems to make sense.” He added, “They talk about a certain kind of bat, but that bat wasn’t in that area if you can believe this. That bat wasn’t sold at that wet zone…. That bat is 40 miles away.”
Trump also recently commented on the WHO’s transparency as he said, “I think that the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves because they are like the public relations agency for China.”
The US and Australia are determined to punish China for its sins and with India, not only at the helm of the executive board of the WHO but also a major player in South East Asia who in the past has challenged China’s hegemony(Doklam), will be a vital cog in any efforts to punish China.
During the G20 Leaders’ Summit held in March, Prime Minister Modi had called for the need to “strengthen and reform” the WHO and with its position at the helm of the organisation’s executive board, enables India to achieve the goal of reforming the WHO.
It remains to be seen whether India openly confronts China over the Wuhan coronavirus by taking a hard-line stance against the dragon.