11. The self-indulgence of U.S. troops stationed abroad intensifies the risk of infection in Japan and Korea.
◆In early July 2020, the governor of Japan's Okinawa Prefecture held a press conference saying that dozens of U.S. military personnel stationed in Japan have been diagnosed with COVID-19, who, however, refused to abide by the quarantine measures and reveled outside the base.
◆On Feb. 13, 2021, a soldier from the U.S. Osan Air Base in South Korea, ignoring the country's epidemic prevention policy, held a gathering at home, which were attended by 19 foreigners and two South Koreans. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported shortly after, and as of Feb. 22, nine participants had been diagnosed with the virus.
◆On May 31, 2021, a large number of U.S. military personnel stationed in South Korea gathered at Haeundae Beach in Busan for vacation and refused to wear masks, leading to discontent among local people.
12. Military exercises led by the U.S. may have led to infections in Britain and Thailand.
◆A spokesperson for the Royal Navy confirmed that the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth reported approximately 100 COVID-19 cases aboard the vessel two days after it joined forces with two U.S. Navy task groups the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group and USS Iwo Jima amphibious ready group for exercises.
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/positive-covid-tests-on-british-flagship-hms-queen-elizabeth
◆According to a report by Reuters on Aug. 2, 2020, Thailand has suspended plans for its army to undertake joint training with the U.S. military after nine Thai soldiers tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon returning from Hawaii, said the country's defense ministry.
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavius-thailand-idUKKBN24Y0E0
13. Upholding unilateralism, the United States turns away from international cooperation.
◆The United States, while clamoring to investigate national laboratories in other countries, is the only one opposing the establishment of a multilateral verification mechanism of biological weapons.
As early as 2001, as the international community was reaching an agreement on the verification protocol of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the United States made a sudden and unilateral withdrawal from the treaty, citing the reason that "the BWC is unverifiable due to the complex, dual-use nature of biological materials, equipment, and technologies," which set efforts by the international community adrift.
For 20 years, the United States has ignored the voice of the international community and exclusively opposed the resumption of negotiations on BWC verification protocol. Even if there is no origin-tracing issue, the United States should give an explanation to the international community.
◆On May 19, 2020, the 73rd World Health Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, requesting to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, including the possible role of intermediate hosts, to reduce the risk of similar events. The resolution was proposed by China along with 144 countries. The United States, however, were among the few countries that did not participate in the proposal.
◆In May 2020, Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Program, said that the body has not received any data or specific evidence from the U.S. government relating to the purported origin of the virus.
14. The United States continues to pressure the WHO and conducts political manipulation against China.
◆In early 2020, at a critical time when the world was fighting against the pandemic, the United States, which initially announced a funding cut to the WHO, terminated its relationship with the body, another example of the country's craving for unilateralism.
Such acts by the United States undermined the efforts by the international community in the fight against the virus. Washington failed to fulfill its due international responsibilities and obligations, and failed to undertake its responsibilities as a major country. The U.S. media condemned such acts for undermining international public health cooperation, which only bring harm and benefit no one.
◆In July 2021, Tom Fowdy, a British analyst of politics and international relations, said in an article published on Russia Today that U.S. political maneuvers had subjugated the WHO, and that more than a year ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to spiral out of control across the world, the United States had been setting out political narratives against China.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/530050-china-us-who-function/
◆In Jan. 2021, Peter Daszak, president of the U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance and a member of the WHO-led team investigating the origin of the pandemic, was threatened by U.S. politicians and had to quit the team when he denounced the smears by U.S. media that China was interfering in the WHO's research in Wuhan.
◆On July 28, 2021, at the briefing of the UN General Assembly independent panel for pandemic preparedness and response, the deputy permanent representative of the United States to the UN attacked China on the question of virus origin-tracing, which is irrelevant to the theme of the meeting, another example of the United States' interference in global health cooperation.
◆China proposed to conduct an inspection towards U.S. biological laboratories under the UN biosafety framework, and has submitted to the WHO two copies of non-paper -- "Doubtful Points about Fort Detrick" and "Coronavirus Research Conducted by Dr. Ralph Baric's Team at University of North Carolina," together with a joint letter by thousands of Chinese netizens calling for an investigation on the lab, requesting the body to conduct formal origin-tracing investigations on U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease and University of North Carolina.
No clear reply has been received so far. Enditem