UPDATE 1-U.S., China face U.N. cooperation test over UK push for vaccine ceasefires
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By Michelle Nichols
NEW YORK, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Britain on Wednesday proposedthat the U.N. Security Council call for ceasefires to allow forCOVID-19 vaccinations, a move that will be a key test ofcooperation at the United Nations between China and new U.S.President Joe Biden's administration.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urged a "swiftadoption" by the 15-member council of a draft resolution callingfor vaccination ceasefires, warning that 160 million people areat risk of missing out due to instability and conflict.
"Local ceasefires are going to be essential to enablelifesaving vaccinations to take place," Raab said.
The U.N. Security Council took more than three months toback a call by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a globalpandemic ceasefire last year due to bickering between China andformer U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
"We need to resist the prejudice, respect science and rejectdisinformation and attempts to politicize the pandemic. In thisregard, 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 insteadpushed warring parties to implement ceasefires called for by theSecurity Council in the resolution adopted in July, whileRussia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia signaled that anotherresolution is not needed.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward hopes the councilcan adopt a new resolution in "the coming weeks."
'WILDLY UNEVEN, UNFAIR'
Long-simmering tensions between China and the Trumpadministration hit the boiling point over the pandemic,spotlighting Beijing's bid for greater multilateral influence ina challenge to Washington's traditional leadership at the UnitedNations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington wouldpay by the end of the month more than $200 million it owes tothe World Health Organization (WHO). Biden rescinded a Trumpdecision to withdraw from the Geneva-based body this year.
Blinken said an ongoing WHO inquiry into the pandemicorigins must be independent, based on science and facts and freefrom interference. The White House has raised concerns thatChina, where the virus first emerged in 2019, could alter thereport.
"To better understand this pandemic and prepare for the nextone all countries must make available all data from the earliestdays of any outbreak," Blinken said, without mentioning China.
The Trump administration accused Beijing of a lack oftransparency that it says worsened the COVID-19 outbreak. Chinadenied those assertions.
Secretary-General Guterres appealed for a globalimmunization plan, urging the Group of 20 rich and big emergingpowers to take the lead.
"We must ensure that everybody, everywhere, can bevaccinated as soon as possible. Yet progress on vaccinations hasbeen wildly uneven and unfair," Guterres told the council.
"Just 10 countries have administered 75% of all COVID-19vaccines. Meanwhile, more than 130 countries have not received asingle dose. Those affected by conflict and insecurity are atparticular risk of being left behind."(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Alex Richardson andJonathan Oatis)
