Global leaders have published a letter calling for a pandemic treaty to improve cooperation and transparency in the case of future outbreaks, but China and the U.S. were not among the signatories.
In the joint letter, published Tuesday in newspapers around the world, the leaders argued that the Covid-19 crisis had posed the “greatest challenge for the global community since the late 1940s.”
The document was signed by more than 20 global leaders and officials from across Europe, Africa, South Africa and Asia, including U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
However, both China and the U.S. — which have locked horns numerous times during the pandemic, with accusations of a lack of transparency, propaganda and misinformation — were missing from the list.
When questioned about the absence of China and the U.S. from the letter, the World Health Organization’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (one of the signatories and main champions of a treaty) played down concerns.
“I don’t want it to be seen as a problem, it wasn’t even a problem,” he said during a press briefing Tuesday morning. “When the discussion on the global pandemic treaty starts, all member states will be represented.”
“Mainly it’s like an opt-in (process). Countries who were interested were flagging to join, but in some instances were also inviting regional representation,” he added.
The WHO’s director general said discussions with member states, including the U.S. and China, had been “positive,” but did not confirm whether the U.S. and China (as well as Russia, another notable absentee) had been asked directly if they wanted to sign the letter. (CNBC)
