Coronavirus: China and US face UN cooperation test over Britain’s push for vaccine ceasefires
- British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warns that 160 million people are at risk of missing out on immunisation due to instability and conflict
- The Security Council took over 3 months to back its Secretary General’s call for a global pandemic ceasefire due to bickering between Beijing and Washington
Britain on Wednesday proposed that the UN Security Council call for ceasefires to allow for Covid-19 vaccinations, a move that will be a key test of cooperation at the United Nations between China and new US President Joe Biden’s administration.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urged a “swift adoption” by the 15-member council of a draft resolution calling for vaccination ceasefires, warning that 160 million people are at risk of missing out due to instability and conflict.
“Local ceasefires are going to be essential to enable life-saving vaccinations to take place,” Raab said.
The UN Security Council took more than three months to back a call by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a global pandemic ceasefire last year due to bickering between China and former US president Donald Trump’s administration.
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“We need to resist the prejudice, respect science and reject disinformation and attempts to politicise the pandemic. In this regard, members of the Security Council must lead by example,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the council on Wednesday.
He made no mention of the British initiative and instead pushed warring parties to implement ceasefires called for by the Security Council in the resolution adopted in July, while Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia signalled that another resolution is not needed.