THE TTALK QUOTES


On Global Trade & Investment
Published Three Times a Week (with occasional bonus quotes) by
The Global Business Dialogue, Inc.
Washington, DC  Tel: 202-559-9316
No.38 of 2020
TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2020

Click HERE for last Thursday's Hong Kong quote
from Secretary of State Pompeo.
PRESIDENT XI ON THE CORONAVIRUS

"First, we must do everything we can for COVID-19 control and treatment. ... Second, the World Health Organization should lead the global response."

Xi Jinping
May 18, 2020
Editor's Note
Occasionally, one TTALK Quote or another is timely, up-to-the-minute, right-off-the-press, a scoop almost. When that happens it is a coincidence. That is because, from the beginning, the animating thought behind these entries has been that the featured quotes can come from any person and any period. We try to keep these entries short, but the book of source material from which they are drawn is huge, including as it does speakers from Pericles to Pompeo and events from the sack of Troy to today’s turmoil in America’s cities.

This is Tuesday, June 2, and today’s quote is from the World Health Assembly meeting in mid-May. That was a week before the killing of George Floyd and two weeks before the violence of these last few days. Trade policy being the principal concern of these pages, we cannot say when or whether we shall return to the disturbing events of this past week. We did not wish to publish today’s entry, however, without expressing our profound regret over these tragedies and our great admiration for Terrence Floyd , George Floyd’s younger brother, whose speech to the crowd in Minneapolis yesterday was unforgettable. Of course we are grateful for his call for peace. “My family is a peaceful family,” he said. And we cannot forget his final calls to the crowd and their responses:

Terrence Floyd: “What’s his name?”

The Crowd: “GEORGE FLOYD!”
CONTEXT
The World Health Assembly is the governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO), and it held its 73rd annual meeting last month on the 18th and 19th of May. We want to say that the meeting was held in Geneva, and certainly some of the key participants were there, including (we assume) the director-general of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus . In fact, however, this was a virtual meeting, with participants weighing in from different locations around the world. China’s President Xi Jinping addressed the group on the first day from Beijing.

For us, President Xi’s speech was one of three key documents associated with this watershed conference for the WHO.  The other two were the letter that President Trump sent to Director-General Tedros on May 18, and the final resolution adopted by the Assembly on May 19, including the call for “an independent and comprehensive evaluation of the global response” to the COVID-19 pandemic. This entry is about the first of those documents, President Xi’s speech. 

It was, in effect, a speech in three parts. First there was an overview of the catastrophe that was and is the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. In the second part President Xi laid out six actions that he said the world needs to take in response. In the 3rd and final portion of his address, President Xi committed China to five specific undertakings. The full speech is worth reading, and the link below will take you to it.

COMMENT
We shall limit ourselves to just a few elements of President Xi’s remarks. As we read it, from beginning to end the speech was a bid for global leadership. It began with a description of the problem devoid of any blame or discussion of responsibility and moved quickly to a romanticized view of global solidarity. Describing the pandemic, President Xi said:

What we are facing is the most serious global public health emergency since the end of World War II. Catching the world by surprise, COVID-19 has hit over 210 countries and regions, affected more than seven billion people around the world and claimed over 300,000 precious lives. I mourn for every life lost and express condolences to the bereaved families.

In discussing the response he said:

The people of all countries have tackled the virus head on. Around the world, people have looked out for each other and pulled together as one. With love and compassion, we have forged extraordinary synergy in the fight against COVID-19.

When he turned his attention to what must be done, President Xi stressed that “the World Health Organization should lead the global response.” Logically, that should be read in conjunction with President Xi’s call for “[strengthening] global governance in the area of public health.” Interestingly, it was under the rubric of global governance that President Xi expressed his support for a review of the global response to COVID-19 “after it is brought under control.”

An Emphasis on Africa . President Xi talked about Africa in both the second and third segments of his talk. “We must provide greater support for Africa,” he said, and then described some of the work China is already doing on that continent. “At present,” he said, “46 resident Chinese medical teams are in Africa helping with COVID-19 containment efforts locally.” 

It has been widely reported that President Xi used this speech to announce China’s commitment to provide “US$2 billion over two years to help with COVID-19 responses and with economic and social development in affected countries, especially developing countries.”
 
As we read his speech, however, it was not clear that this money would be funneled through the WHO. Nor do we know whether the $2 billion he referred to should be regarded as separate from or in conjunction with such initiatives as China’s pledge to “establish a cooperation mechanism for its hospitals to pair up with 30 African hospitals and accelerate the building of the Africa CDC headquarters … .”

***

From one perspective, these developments from mid-May have long been overtaken by more dramatic events in American cities, in the South China Sea, and in the ever-unfolding saga of U.S.-China trade. From our perspective, however, they are all pieces of the same puzzle.
SOURCES & LINKS
President Xi’s Speech takes you to the English language text of this address by China’s leader at the 73rd World Health Assembly as published by Global Times.  This was the source for today's featured quote.

Terrence Floyd in Minneapolis is a link to the YouTube clip of this memorable speech from the brother of George Floyd.
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