Japan joins calls for investigation into WHO's virus response

Up till now Japan has been sitting back on the issue while the U.S. and EU have been pressing this issue. Looks to me like China shouldn't have irritated Japan by sending their ships into the Senkakus. Another bad call by China.

Will we ever know the truth?

If...I say if the virus came from a Laboratory in China, engineered by humans or escaped from the Laboratory by accident, will we ever know the truth about that? I dont think so.

But after all this mess in the world, we deserve to know the the truth.

An independent investigation is definitely needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hicC53AhZ6Y

Just because the US is politicizing the WHO doesn't mean Japan or any other nations should jump in the water, too. Tiring, really.

"Japan will call for an investigation into the World Health Organization's initial response to the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said."

Abe really has no shame, has he? The man not only bows down and worships Trump so much he'll crawl back behind his coattails after falling into a sand trap and seeing Trump has already walked off with a celebrity instead of asking if he were okay or helping, but he'll spend all our tax money buying fighter jets we don't need and the US doesn't want, he'll bypass the Japanese market and ram through a drug that hasn't been tested because the US is doing it, and he'll do ANYTHING Trump demands at the drop of a dime. It probably hurts him to no end that Trump spits on him and loathes him, while admiring strong leaders like Putin and Xi, and so Abe falls for it once again. Well, the WHO should just not share info with Japan, if they want to play this way. We know they'll try to play both sides in the not too distant future, asking the WHO to please understand and cooperate that Japan's siding with the US doesn't mean the WHO shouldn't praise and cooperate with Japan, but whatever.

Abe literally harms this nation with his attempts to do anything to suck up to Trump.

OssanAmerica: "Looks to me like China shouldn't have irritated Japan by sending their ships into the Senkakus. Another bad call by China."

Yeah, well, when China comes up with a vaccine first, and now Trump is saying the US will get it from China (despite ramping up trade war rhetoric) in an about face, guess which nation will get it last? and/or have to pay 10 times as much as other nations? You need to learn that Japan never wins when they try to play tit-for-tat with China, especially not when it's incredibly hypocritical, like with the island issue.

Japan - and all democracies bankrolling the WHO - should cease all funding to this corrupt, undemocratic body. Start up a rival Organization that includes Taiwan. If any nation objects to Taiwan being in the new organization, they are NOT welcome to join. Simple as that.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/panic-and-overreaction-china-slams-coronavirus-response-20200204-p53xhi

Panic and overreaction: China slams coronavirus response

Andrew Tillett, Robert Bolton and Tom McIlroy

Feb 4, 2020 – 5.52pm

Mr Wang said Beijing was unhappy the US had taken the lead on banning travel from China, which other countries and airlines had followed.

He said China hoped Australia and other governments would implement measures only on the basis of a scientific and objective assessment of the situation with reference to World Health Organisation recommendations, which to date advise that any restrictions on movement of people and goods to and from China is unnecessary.

https://www.accomnews.com.au/2020/02/china-ban-imposed-as-aus-moves-to-protect-public/amp/

Kate Jackson 3 months ago

China has criticised the global travel bans and The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that closing borders could accelerate the spread of the virus as travellers look to enter countries unofficially.

“Travel restrictions can cause more harm than good by hindering info-sharing, medical supply chains and harming economies,” WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said last week.

Many times I wonder what would happened if WHO recommended travel restrictions on China in early February I bet the mess would not be this big.

WHO stuffed up enormously this time and an independent investigation into how the organisation handled this crisis is needed. It owes it to the thousands of people died from this virus.

 If any nation objects to Taiwan being in the new organization, they are NOT welcome to join. Simple as that.

Politics before health. Exclude the world's largest country from an international health organisation - see any problems with that?

Looks to me like China shouldn't have irritated Japan by sending their ships into the Senkakus. Another bad call by China.

@ Ossan America. Two completely separate issues. The call for a free and fair investigation into the WHO is NOT linked to any regular incursion from PRC into Japanese territorial waters around the Senkakus. Japan does not work this way - they simply want to ensure the WHO is held to account.

Another bad call by China.

Or a bad call by the Japanese in upsetting its larger, more powerful neighbour.

@Elvis is here

Very good point!

If we are Americas lapdog and want to destroy the WHO effort to fight the pandemic, at least our master should give us a bone.

Sans doute, China must be held to account about the origin and transmission of this virulent disease from Wuhan.

What the US, the U.K., Japan, Australia, some in the EU are asking of China is the right way to go.

Hopefully South Korea will join in too, instead of cowering and kowtowing to Beijing.

Can we the people living here in Japan call for an investigation into how screwed up Abe's non-response to the pandemic here in Japan too!

Sorry Abe, this is pot-kettle-black time here! You are a hypocrite to call for this when you yourself screwed things up here, all in the name of the Olympics!

Hypocrisy knows no bounds,.

Preach but don't practise transparency.

A pathetic leader clutching at straws. While I agree the WHO and it’s financiers are corrupt to the core, Abe’s impotent attempt at appealing to the international community is laughable.

We also want WHO to tell China to ban their wet markets and people's habit of eating wild animals. China is still an uncivilized and underdeveloped country. They have to educate people about public sanitations if they have time to instill their propagandas and anachronistic patriotism into their people. Chinese government must spend more money to build sewage rather than building a strong military. Western countries helped China becoming an unbalanced big country.

Trump playing puppet to Japan

Yoshisan

Many times I wonder what would happened if WHO recommended travel restrictions on China in early February I bet the mess would not be this big.

WHO stuffed up enormously this time and an independent investigation into how the organisation handled this crisis is needed. It owes it to the thousands of people died from this virus.

Has the WHO the powers to place a travel ban !

What would the WHO have done when the stable genius was downplaying the virus even when experts were saying otherwise.

Almost all the countries underestimated and didn't take the virus seriously thinking it was just like SARS or even weaker and won't reach them.

It is very easy to scapegoat an orgainisation headed by an African to cover their ineptude and mismanagement.

they simply want to ensure the WHO is held to account.

And who holds Japan to account? It's hypocritical! Just looking to focus the blame on someone other than yourself!

fighto: "Japan - and all democracies bankrolling the WHO - should cease all funding to this corrupt, undemocratic body. Start up a rival Organization that includes Taiwan."

Yeah, because nothing corrupt in saying, "Do what we say and do!" at all, nor has there ever been. I mean, Trump certainly didn't suddenly say this is all the WHO's fault in an attempt to deflect from the US' lack of testing and Trump's falling popularity as a result. And lo-and-behold, with Japan also failing to test, I'm sure it is an innocent and natural call for investigation into what is COMPLETELY the WHO's fault, and nothing at all about the building pressure on Japan to ramp up testing, get out aid money, re-open despite being in the middle of the first wave, etc.

Of course Japan is doing the right thing about demanding an inquiry. In principle, we need to get to the bottom of the origins of this virus.

But whether an inquiry actually goes ahead is anyone's guess. Or if it does, the chance of it having any teeth is pretty slim. As it stands, China is looking guiltier than a dog standing among toilet paper strewn across a room, but not nearly as cute. And as there's little more the CCP hates than losing face and prestige, it will fight hard and dirty to prevent an inquest from pointing the fingers at them.

I'm not a fan of Abe, but right now he's the PM of this country so we need him to represent its best interests. And this includes tracing the origin of CV19 to prevent it from causing further damage. If the results show the CCP as negligent at best and malevolent at worst, then the civilised world should hold China to account with economic and diplomatic sanctions until it learns to behave like an adult.

Consider who Abe is following here;

President Trump says other countries “can’t believe” what the United States has been able to do regarding testing for Covid-19.

“We have more cases than anybody in the world. But why? Because we do more testing… If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases.”

And folks want to point fingers at the WHO?

If...I say if the virus came from a Laboratory in China, engineered by humans or escaped from the Laboratory by accident, will we ever know the truth about that? I dont think so.

We probably will never know the details of what happened in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Especially seeing that the CCP regime ordered so much evidence destroyed, and made a number of scientists disappear.

But the world surely is obliged to demand answers from the CCP about the actions of the CCP.

Another issue, Taiwan to (re) join WHO should also be addressed with wider member supports.

WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus has rejected such accusations, urging countries not to politicize the virus that has now killed some 300,000 people worldwide.

Tedros, please resign. People don't want to see your face in the conference, will never trust whatever (even something reasonable) you state there. You are continuing to discredit the organization.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been one of the strongest critics of the WHO, saying it is "a puppet for China

Trump is an idiot and Japan is a puppet for the US.

Blaming the WHO for China’s secrecy is just scapegoating and looking fir someone to blame coz they won’t blame China.

Trump is an idiot and Japan is a puppet for the US. 

Oh, if that were only true.

Blaming the WHO for China’s secrecy is just scapegoating and looking fir someone to blame coz they won’t blame China.

Why so upset? Trump called out China in the worst way and they’re still mad about that.

Just because the US is politicizing the WHO doesn't mean Japan or any other nations should jump in the water, too. Tiring, really.

@Tom Young,

The whole world must stand up to China and demand justice for those who lost their lives and their livelihoods, not because of the criticism of the irresponsible, incapable, and ignorant president of the US.

Considering how much power china has over the WHO, the most affected countries excluding china should set up their own independent investigation. Anything with china in it can't be trusted, and that's not related to covid.

The WHO has become a corrupt organization with leading members taking financial gifts from China in exchange for propaganda media stories to distance China from the virus. The WHO's integrity is has been reduced. Even Trump could see this and therefore took the necessary action to withdraw future funding. If the world wants a constructive WHO then USA, Japan, EU, Australia and other allies are going to have to confront both the WHO and China!

Yeah, I’m very disappointed in the WHO. Despite Japan being a hypocrite by doing this, ground them in the car or investigation into them. And this will also put pressure on Japan to have an investigation of their own, simply do to comments like these for example.

Folks, this inquiry stuff doesn't have to be treated like it is rocket science.

First, with respect to the WHO & China it needs to be checked to see IF China was influencing the WHO about release of virus info, if answer is YES then BOTH the WHO & China need to answer, PERIOD!

That said IF the WHO declared a pandemic in Feb...…..does anyone think that trump would have quickly called for air travel bans etc, would Europe, Japan....elsewhere.....unlikely they would ALL say we need more info, need to assess etc etc etc

Personally I see problems roughly in the order:

China

WHO

The West(including Japan)

With China by FAR the one who MUST come under the most scrutiny!!!

We need to deal with that MONSTER on many many levels, we need to start YESTERDAY already!

basically wanting to punish China without the courage to name China.

Since Trump was the first one to question the corruption of the WHO, we need to support the WHO 100%, increase their funding by as much as unelected UN bureaucrats see fit, and eliminate any and all oversight.

To resist Trump.

It is quite evident from the communications given by the WHO that it has not being factual in reporting the outbreak and the underlying circumstances sorrounding the C-19.

The WHO failed in it's mandate in facilitating the containment of the C-19 and to make things worse, it went further to praise China, in-spite of not reporting the human to human transmission, to the detriment of the rest of the world.

The WHO has lost it's intergrity and can no longer be trusted in handling World health issues.

It should be duly investigated for atrocities against humanity and it's board members should be reconstituted.

It is time and the rest of the world must never waste this chance to check and put China where it belongs.

If this is not done now, the next time China strikes will wipe the entire planet.

China displays zero diplomacy in solving international issues, they are no different to ocean pirates.

They have spread their tentacles to each and every economy in the world and there is no better time to cut-off China than NOW.

China should be held responsible!

Japan should be investigated for not testing many people and boasting that its infected cases are very few.

This is just a way to yell at China without calling out Xi directly. Frankly we need to have personal protective equipment made in our own nations and we need to move away from China. This is a good step. China has been unleashing its trolls and sycophants but it will not work

Because it's obviously a backdoor callout to China this already speaks to the WHO's failures and manipulation by China.

The WHO is a political organization and an arm of the UN. Period.

That means it only accepts data directly from member countries. That means that Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau don't get a direct seat and the CCP controls whatever data that comes from "China."

The WHO will never represent the world, only the political people currently in power for each nation. And that is the flaw.

China/CCP like the WHO because they get to feed it whatever crap they like and the WHO has to accept that data. It isn't just China, all members of the UN get to feed the WHO crap.

As for all the rumors about the virus origin being a lab or man-made, ignore those until someone reputable provides physical evidence. That is unlikely based on scientific opinions across the world. There are markers for man-made viruses. COVID-19 doesn't have any of those. I'm no fan of China, but we have more important things to do than continue baseless rumors.

The Communist Party is a brutal dictatorship!

They have also lied about the origins of the outbreak. The WHO also said that it was not infectious at first.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Le_rfTdayLs&list=LLz0hbITqe2VDCynsccqrtZg&index=12&t=0s

Ha, after US and Europe get the ball rolling first. Then Abe hitches a ride and joins the bandwagon.

It is so easy to spot when trump is interfering.

When trump starts losing a fight, he gets others involved. trump is always looking for someone. something to blame.

Bully Boy tactics, same old- same old.

Attack, Retrench, Retreat then Lie. This is a trump Methodology.

to eliminate china over power - gradually take out the manufacturing, educated your own citizen of manufacturing or move it elsewhere. it may take years to implement it,

we need to know the origins of this virus, I support that. China must wholeheartedly open itself up for an an independent international investigation into this. Having said this, I also think Abe and Trump must be investigated for their lack of response to the outbreak in their countries. Those calling for international investigations botched their own responses to the outbreak and continue to do so. It is an absolute chaotic disaster.

we need to know the origins of this virus, I support that. China must wholeheartedly open itself up for an an independent international investigation into this. Having said this, I also think Abe and Trump must be investigated for their lack of response to the outbreak in their countries. Those calling for international investigations botched their own responses to the outbreak and continue to do so. It is an absolute chaotic disaster.

Ah the old "lets blame everyone but ourselves" response.

Ah the old "lets blame everyone but ourselves" response.

The amount of conspiracy comments here is very disappointing.

The WHO has become a corrupt organization with leading members taking financial gifts from China in exchange for propaganda media stories to distance China from the virus. The WHO's integrity is has been reduced. Even Trump could see this and therefore took the necessary action to withdraw future funding. 

Trump’s gifts to the WHO weren’t nice enough. China’s funding did the trick. Gotta learn how to bribe.

In the end, it’s China that is responsible for the virus. What can you do? Pay up. China says no. Sanctions. Trade war and eventually war.

This is going no where. Tell me what you think will happen other than war.

The WHO has become a corrupt organization with leading members taking financial gifts from China in exchange for propaganda media stories to distance China from the virus. The WHO's integrity is has been reduced. Even Trump could see this and therefore took the necessary action to withdraw future funding. 

Trump’s gifts to the WHO weren’t nice enough. China’s funding did the trick. Gotta learn how to bribe.

In the end, it’s China that is responsible for the virus. What can you do? Pay up. China says no. Sanctions. Trade war and eventually war.

This is going no where. Tell me what you think will happen other than war.

Japan joins calls for investigation into WHO's virus response 

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi also said Friday that Japan is joining a chorus of calls for such an investigation and the probe should be conducted by an independent body.

"This disease has had a devastating impact on the entire world, and information must be shared between countries in a free, transparent and timely manner, lest we risk it spreading even more quickly," Motegi said in a parliamentary session, in reference to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

"There's a lot of discussion in the international community about precisely where the virus came from and the initial response," he said. "There needs to be a thorough investigation, and it's crucial that this be carried out by an independent body." 

The WHO has been accused by the United States and some of its allies of turning a blind eye while China withheld information that could have helped limit the spread of the virus after it was first reported in the city of Wuhan. 

OTOH, it's amazing how many pro-China

OTOH, it's amazing how many pro-China posters do not want the WHO, or China, to have to explain their early behavior during the first months after the release of China's bat virus.

Almost all the countries underestimated and didn't take the virus seriously thinking it was just like SARS or even weaker and won't reach them.

I have to disagree. Most of the countries did take it seriously very quick. There are only a few that really fouled it up.

Is it really so hard to apply some basic logic before commenting here?

I’m fast forwarding all that.

China covered and WHO collaborated. They’re still not going to pay. What are you going to do? Seize their assets? Treat China like North Korea?

If you take the ball to the Chinese court, then it's up to them, how exactly they will respond. 

This is legally possible -suing China in China - because you can’t sue China or a sovereign nation in the US or any other country; there is the doctrine of state immunity. Taking China to court in its own court...not going to expect much results.

Causation. China was careless, but there have been a dozen or so intervening actors in relation to any vectors of transmission. It may have originated in China, but it spread through literally thousands of people, many countries and places before it hits later victims - some of those will have taken care, but others will also have been careless. It is hard to see how the chain of causation survives. After a while it is just a virus that is going around. Suggesting that China should have been able to stop it all at the source, and thus it is to blame (but not blame subsequent countries or private organizations or people which it spread through) is inconsistent and illogical.

The better choice would be boycott and take a stand as you mentioned.

We all know that China initially covered things up. But by early February our media was full of images from Wuhan. That was the time to take action. Most countries did nothing at the time and wouldn't have done anything even if they had known it was spread person to person.

For example, look at Trump's comments throughout February even after it was clear that this was spreading rapidly P2P in China. He was still talking about it being a hoax and the virus being about to disappear.

His act of blocking flights to China clearly had no lasting impact because it came via other countries.

The UK's response was equally poor, even while the virus was spreading rapidly in Italy, as though it was immune.

WHO should be charged for negligence or for deceiving the world in advising the people, that only the sick and health workers should wear mask... undoubtedly, this ill advise contributed to the spread of the virus that cost thousands of lives.

quercetum - Suggesting that China should have been able to stop it all at the source, and thus it is to blame (but not blame subsequent countries or private organizations or people which it spread through) is inconsistent and illogical.

There is nothing illogical about expecting China to have stopped their bat virus at the source. China had been testing their bat virus. China had experience with their bat virus. China locked down their military bases. China had begun importing PPE gear. China was NOT transparent about their testing, planning, reactions, or preparations. China actively prevented bat virus information from leaving China. For months, China's misinformation intentionally concealed the severity of what is now known as Covid-19 from the international community, which prevented the world's nations from making sound, scientific, informed decisions as to how to deal with China's bat virus. Many people have died in order to protect China's reputation.

The WHO refused to accept Taiwan's data BECAUSE CHINA DOES NOT WANT THE WHO TO RECOGNIZE TAIWAN'S EXISTANCE OR INDEPENDANCE. Which is more important to China, preventing a global pandemic, or keeping Taiwan under it's control? Which is more important to China, preventing a global pandemic, or hiding China's major screw up from the world?