Much has been written about how the World Health Organisation colluded with the Chinese Communist Party and behaved as a loyal lapdog to Xi Jinping. There is doubt that the WHO’s actions caused the outbreak to become a menacing pandemic with almost the entire world uniform in their criticism of the WHO. In what can be termed as a second chance, two WHO officials are heading to Beijing to explore the origins of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. If the WHO yet again comes out with glowing praises for China and Xi Jinping, it will effectively act as the final nail in the coffin of the WHO and Dr Tedros will be relegated to oblivion.
Ever since the outbreak of the virus, China continues to claim that the first case of the virus might have been reported in Wuhan but the virus didn’t originate in China — a claim which has received the tacit backing of the WHO.
After over 120 nations called for an investigation into the origins of the virus, the WHO is finally relenting and seeking to probe the origins of the virus in China as an animal health expert and an epidemiologist will meet Chinese counterparts in the Chinese capital to work out logistics and the participants for a WHO-led international mission.
This mission might well be just hogwash like its previous mission, but for the sake of its own survival, the WHO for once amidst the pandemic needs to be transparent. The fact that Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian welcomed the investigation doesn’t bode well for a transparent report as he said, “China took the lead in inviting WHO experts to investigate and discuss scientific virus tracing.”
China, as expected, is employing delaying tactics as it is flooding the city of Wuhan to hamper the investigation. Wuhan is witnessing the worst floods since 1961. Eight people have died thus far and the city, therefore, stands locked down once again. The Chinese Meteorological Department has issued warnings of rainstorms for the next 31 days.
But questions are being raised on China’s real intention and whether the devastating floods in Central China, including Wuhan, are really a natural calamity?
At the centre of the entire controversy is a monstrous dam situated 368 kilometres away from Wuhan. We are talking about the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest power station in terms of installed capacity that has been built on the Yangtze River.
Situated in the Yiling District, this Dam is believed to be the cause of the devastating floods in Central China that have put millions at risk.
Reports suggest that the floods in Wuhan and elsewhere are a result of a massive floodwater discharge from its spillways. However, Beijing continues to claim that the dam has nothing to do with the floods.
Jennifer Zeng, a Chinese activist claims that the move was undertaken intentionally. Zeng believes that Chinese authorities want to literally wash off evidence against China and its involvement in the Wuhan virus Pandemic.
The WHO is fighting for its future after its largest donor, the US cut off its funding and officially pulled out of the organisation due to its collusion with China. Brazil has also threatened to quit WHO over “ideological bias”.
It is important to note that the WHO’s previous mission led by its deputy director-general, Bruce Aylward directly pandered to Chinese propaganda. In March, the WHO earlier came out with a 40-page report on how well the Chinese government has tackled the Wuhan coronavirus. The report lauded China’s epidemic response measures — but conveniently ignored the late-December / early-January dates that might implicate the party’s initial mismanagement of the crisis.
If there were any doubts on the neutrality of the report, a line in the report reads that: “In the face of a previously unknown virus, China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history.”
Shockingly, the WHO in its report listed the origins of the virus as one of the “key unknowns”. The WHO had one job to do that is to find the index case, which it grossly failed to do.