The diplomatic game
of chess is likely to go down to the wire as
China is actively
lobbying to escape sanctions and
independent inquiry
because the Chinese communist party knows it is
culpable for the
Wuhan coronavirus pandemic
Earlier this week it
appeared that China is on the backfoot as over 100 countries
rallied behind each
other to draft a resolution in the 73rd World Health Assembly
to review the
response of the World Health Organization in order to draw lessons
from it.
Interestingly even
China backed the proposal which was initially drafted by the
European Union as
the world thought that it has taken the first steps to punish
China and the WHO
for its sins. However on a closer look
it turns out that yet again
China has managed to
fool the world.
Australia has been
at the forefront of pushing for an independent investigation into
China and had
drafted a proposal which demanded an independent inquiry and
threatened to put
China In the dock.
China lobbied with
the European Union to fool the world and embarrass Australia
as the latter's
proposal was silently junked and a watered down proposal was drafted
by the European
Union which only called for a review of the WHO response in order
to draw lessons from
the response much to China's delight.
The entire world has
been fooled by China into thinking that punitive measures havebeen taken by the
countries in the 73rd World Health Assembly. 
The seven-page
proposal does stress on investigating the origins of the virus but desists from
directly mentioning
China or Wuhan.
Chinese Communist
Party's mouthpiece Global Times could not contain its happiness as
it claimed that
Australia got a slap on the face and openly admitted that EU's resolution
Was sponsored by
China and the global community has welcomed it.
Chinese foreign
ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said it is a totally different thing from
the so called
independent inquiry pushed by the Australian side.
Yet again China has
been successful in putting out its narrative and needless to say the
proposal which has
been signed by over 100 countries is nothing but a hogwash as China
will never sponsor a
proposal which can threaten it's narrative.
It is ironical that
the European Union which has been arguably worst hit by the
Wuhan virus pandemic
is supporting China as it cowers down under Chinese pressure.
As if to rub salt in
the wounds the European Union pledged to back the WHO
after US President
Donald Trump threatened to pull out of the body if the WHO is
unsuccessful in
proving that it is not under Chinese influence.
European Foreign
Affairs spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson said this is
the time for
solidarity not the time for finger-pointing or for undermining
multilateral
co-operation.
The EU backs the WHO
in its efforts to contain and mitigate the Covid-19 outbreak and has
already provided additional funding to support these efforts.
In yet another
example which portrays how the EU has been compromised
into serving the
interests of China it recently watered down a report about
Beijing state backed
disinformation campaign fearing that the Dragon would
retaliate by
withholding medical supplies.
The reference to
China's disinformation campaign essentially
means China's
massive propaganda war to portray itself as a saviour
of the world
spreading lies like the US Army spread the novel coronavirus
or scapegoating
Italy as a part of Covid-19 origin propaganda or an
unnamed Chinese
diplomat meddling in the internal affairs of France in an ugly
undiplomatic
manner. But this particular section was
removed by the EU, why
because Beijing
strong-armed it and warned the EU officials of unspecified
repercussions and
then the EU gave in to the threats to appease the CCP
Such is the Chinese
influence in the European Union that it allowed China
to censor a
friendship letter which was co-authored and co-signed by all
European Union
ambassadors to China.
The letter mentioned
the outbreak
of the corona virus
in China and its subsequent spread to the rest of the world
over the past three
months has meant there are pre-existing plans have been
temporary
side-tracked. But Beijing's state-run media didn't like it and
China Daily
published the letter removing this paragraph about the corona virus
pandemic thereby
quoting the European Union selectively.
But the EU
didn't protest and
allowed China to impose its will by censoring parts of
the letter.
Not only did the
European Union fail to object but it also consented to
Chinese censorship
and manipulation. Battu-Henriksson said
EU
diplomats decided to
proceed with the publication with considerable
reluctance.
In retrospect it
seems that - the United Kingdom's decision to leave
the European Union
was the correct one.
While there are
obvious economic and trade benefits by being a part of the EU
but if the
institution cannot protect the lives of its citizens and directly panders
to the whims and
fancies of China despite the fact that the latter's actions have
created havoc in
Europe the institution has lost all credibility and no longer
serves the interests
of Europe.
