Pacific nations reject China security pact

Yahoo – AFP, Frank Bainimarama, 30 May 2022

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that that Beijing is willing to
work with other major powers in the Pacific region to help island nations
develop (AFP/Vaitogi Asuisui MATAFEO) (Vaitogi Asuisui MATAFEO)

Ten Pacific island nations rebuffed China's push for a wide-ranging regional security pact Monday, amid worries the proposal was designed to pull them into Beijing's orbit. 

Talks in Fiji between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and leaders from the small island nations failed to reach an agreement, in a high-profile diplomatic setback for Beijing. 

China is offering to radically ramp up its activities in the South Pacific, directly challenging the influence of the United States and its allies in the strategically vital region. 

The proposed pact would see Beijing train Pacific island police, become involved in cybersecurity, expand political ties, conduct sensitive marine mapping and gain greater access to natural resources on land and in the water. 

As an enticement, Beijing is offering millions of dollars in financial assistance, the prospect of a potentially lucrative China-Pacific islands free trade agreement and access to China's vast market of 1.4 billion people. 

Behind the scenes, Pacific leaders have voiced deep misgivings about the offer. 

In a recent letter to fellow leaders, David Panuelo, the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, warned the offer was "disingenuous" and would "ensure Chinese influence in government" and "economic control" of key industries. 

A more soft-spoken public rebuke came after the talks, when leaders said they could not agree to Beijing's proposed "Common Development Vision" due to a lack of regional consensus. 

"As always, we put consensus first," co-host and Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said after the meeting, indicating that broad accord would be needed before inking any "new regional agreements". 

Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the Federated States of Micronesia were said to be among those concerned about the proposals, along with Taiwan-recognising Palau, which was not invited. 

"We would rather deal with our own security issues with China", Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Soroi Eoe told AFP, indicating concern about any region-wide pact. 

Chinese officials -- working frantically to secure support during Wang's 10-day diplomatic blitz of the region -- admitted their entreaties had fallen short. 

"There has been general support from the 10 countries," Chinese ambassador to Fiji Qian Bo told reporters in Suva. "But of course, there are some concerns on some specific issues and we have agreed that these two documents will be discussed afterwards until we have reached an agreement." 

Speaking from Suva, Wang made the face-saving announcement that the 10 countries had agreed to memorandums of understanding on China's "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative. 

The two sides will "continue to have ongoing and in-depth discussions and consultations to shape more consensus on cooperation", he said, urging those worried by Beijing's intentions not to be "too anxious and don't be too nervous". 

The full proposal has not been made public, but was leaked to media including AFP ahead of Monday's meeting. 

China has said it will release a "position paper" highlighting the proposals to the public in the coming weeks. 

Balancing act 

Western powers have bristled against China's move into the region, with the US State Department warning South Pacific nations to be wary of "shadowy, vague deals with little transparency". 

Australia joined the United States in urging a spurning of China's attempts to expand its security reach deep into the region, with the country's new foreign minister warning of the "consequences" of such deals. 

Many in the Pacific are uneasy at being thrust to the centre of a geopolitical tussle between China and US allies. 

Most capitals are keen to maintain amicable ties with China, balancing relations between Beijing, Washington, Canberra and Wellington, while focusing on the more urgent threat of climate change and day-to-day economic issues. 

During a joint appearance with Wang, Bainimarama hit out at those engaged in "geopolitical point-scoring". 

It "means less than little to anyone whose community is slipping beneath the rising seas, whose job has been lost to a pandemic or whose family is impacted by the rapid rise in the price of commodities", he said. 

All but a few of the Pacific Islands are low-lying and deeply vulnerable to sea-level rises caused by climate change. 

Before the meeting, President Xi Jinping sent a message that China would be "a good brother" to the region and that they shared a "common destiny", according to state broadcaster CCTV.

In rare hearing, Pentagon reports rise in UFOs in past 20 years

Yahoo – AFP, May 17, 2022

A screen grab provided by the Pentagon in April 2020 from a video showing
"unidentified aerial phenomena" (AFP/Handout) (Handout)

An increasing number of unidentified flying objects have been reported in the sky over the past 20 years, a top US defense official told lawmakers Tuesday in the first public hearing on UFOs in half a century. 

"Since the early 2000s we have seen an increasing number of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft or objects in military controlled training areas and training ranges and other designated airspace," Scott Bray, deputy director of Naval intelligence, told a House security panel. 

Bray attributed the rise to efforts by the US military to "destigmatize the act of reporting sights and encounters" as well as to technological advances. 

However, he said the Pentagon had detected nothing "that would suggest it's anything non-terrestrial in origin" behind these phenomena. 

On the other hand, Brey also did not definitively rule out that possibility. 

"We've made no assumptions about what this is or isn't," Bray said. 

In June 2021, US intelligence had already claimed in a long-awaited report that there was no evidence of the existence of extraterrestrials in the skies, while acknowledging that they had no explanation for dozens of phenomena observed by military pilots. 

Some could be explained by the presence of drones or birds creating confusion in the radar systems of the US military. 

Others could stem from tests of military equipment or technologies carried out by other powers, such as China or Russia. 

The US military and intelligence are primarily interested in determining whether these aerial objects may be linked to threats against the United States. 

"Unidentified Aerial Phenomena are a potential national security threat. And they need to be treated that way," said Democratic Representative Andre Carson of Indiana, who was chairing the panel holding the hearing.

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"The Big Picture - You Are Not Alone" -  Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"Common Questions from Non-Lightworkers" - Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"... Question Three: Is there life on other planets?

Are you kidding? There's life everywhere. Everywhere! Right now, your scientists are searching for microbial life on all the planets and their moons in your solar system, and they will eventually find it. They expect to find it. They will eventually understand that the seeds of life are everywhere.

How much life might there be? How long has it been "out there"? When science starts to realize the scope of how long life has been in your galaxy, they will begin to see something counterintuitive to evolution - their own Human history. How old is your Universe? Ask your scientists and they will say about 13 billion years. That's OK. Let's use their numbers. How old is your own planet - 4 or 5 billion, perhaps? Correct. But how old is humanity? Why weren't you here with the dinosaurs? You think the earth wasn't ready? Do you think that perhaps that which controls evolution was a little too stupid to make a Human sooner, but the process could make a dinosaur? Have you ever thought about these things?

If you put the earth's entire history into a 24-hour clock, life itself only started in the last hour and humanity, all of civilization, happened the last few seconds. Isn't that odd to you? Therefore, in a Universe that may be 13 billion years old, you arrived in the last few seconds. Did you ever think maybe you're the newest ones on the block? Well, you'd be right.

If the Universe is really that old, do you think perhaps there are civilizations in your galaxy that might be a billion or more years older than you? If that's the case, do you think perhaps they have gone through anything you're going through? Do you think any of them might have had your DNA attributes? Perhaps they also went through what you are going through spiritually? Perhaps they even went into a quantum ascension status? The answer is dozens of them.

You already know them and you've listed them in your publications. The ones who directly seeded you are called Pleiadians. The ones who seeded them might be Octurian and the ones who seeded them may be even Orion. They're everywhere, and they're all here as well. They're looking at you, for you are the ones who are next, and you are passing this marker of the shift.

Oh, dear ones, it's going to be a long time before you really know any of these things to be your reality. The first step is peace on Earth. The next is a new kind of Human evolution that is going to increase your DNA efficiency to 100% and you're going to live a long time. Every time I say that, there are Humans in their intellectual mind saying, "Well, there is a geometric birth rate going on. We're not going to make it. It's going to over-crowd and we are going to run out of food. So what you're saying, Kryon, can't be a good thing. We're all going to be suffering and killing each other for food."

Let me address this, for if that is your thought, Human, you are assuming Humans are stupid and haven't figured out what's going on and why there's so much birth. You assume they can't control it because they haven't figured it out? I want to tell you, you're going to see something you didn't expect. You're going to see a decline in birth rate because Humans are smart and they're getting smarter. They're going to see that quality of life is linked to the number of children they have, and they're going to figure out the solution. It won't be how many children their church says they should have. They are going to do it intuitively. You're going to see it sooner than not.

You are going to see wisdom on the planet in many areas that no sociologist would ever have predicted. You will surprise them all, and it's going to happen without a government program. It's going to happen because you decide you want it. It's going to happen collectively, and you may even see it soon. Look for negative birth rates in first-world countries. Where Humans are able to see a larger picture and have freedom of information, the situation will not be what you have predicted.

Is there life on other planets? The scientists are saying, "It's going to be a long time before we get to the stars, you know? We have to get in this little metal can and put air in it, and then travel in it for years and years before we ever get to the next star." Meanwhile, a Pleiadian can do it in the blink of an eye! What do you think is going on there? Do you even believe me?

Not long ago, if you wanted to communicate to someone far away, you sent a letter. It was carried by a horse. It took a month to get a response. Now you communicate instantly!  Why is this so unbelievable to you about travel?

I will tell you, as long as you stay in 3D, you'll still be getting in little metal cans and air suits and going to planets. As soon as you begin the quantum age, however, you will simply wish yourself there, because you will be entangled with everything and can go with intent. If you don't believe this now, you will later, for what I give you is true. It may be lifetimes and lifetimes from now, but the group that is before me is the group that is going to come back over and over and over. The difference is that you're done coming back in an old energy. This is a new energy. ..”

China mulls bill to tackle workplace discrimination against women

Yahoo – AFP, December 25, 2021

Assembly-line workers at a factory in Fuyang in eastern China (AFP/STR)

Chinese lawmakers are discussing new rules to prevent workplace discrimination and sexual harassment against women amid a string of high-profile cases in recent months. 

A draft bill published Friday includes a ban on employers stating gender preferences on job ads and quizzing female applicants about their marital or pregnancy status –- a common practice that has been criticised for decades. 

Rapid economic growth in the past four decades coupled with the one-child rule has opened up more educational and employment opportunities for Chinese women. 

But women's participation in the workforce has dropped, due to gender-based filtering when hiring and as more women care for families amid a severe shortage of affordable childcare options. 

A report by Human Rights Watch in June found that one in five civil service job postings in 2019 specified a preference for male applicants. 

The report also says that it was a common practice for employers including schools to force female staff to sign contracts promising not to get pregnant for several years as a pre-condition for being hired. 

The proposed new rules come amid concerns that China's new three-child rule could make employers even more reluctant to hire women and as officials crack down on the local #MeToo movement after a string of cases that led to a public outcry over sexual assault in the workplace. 

Earlier this month, e-commerce giant Alibaba group fired a female staffer who had accused a manager of sexual assault. 

The proposed amendments will make enforcement easier by clearly defining what sexual harassment is, state-run Xinhua news agency said. 

According to a draft text published Friday, it prohibits "vulgar speech", "inappropriate physical behaviour" or "the display or dissemination of sexual images, information, text, audio or video". 

It also requires employers to set up mechanisms to prevent, investigate and respond to such complaints "without delay", but there were no details on any penalties for failing to do so. 

The amendments are open for public comment until January 22, 2022.

Related Article:

US, UN demand proof of missing Chinese tennis star's well-being

US, UN demand proof of missing Chinese tennis star's well-being

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, November 19, 2021 

The WTA is threatening to pull out of China if tennis star Peng Shui's
whereabouts and safety are not confirmed (AFP/GREG BAKER) 

The United States and UN on Friday demanded proof of Peng Shuai's whereabouts and well-being amid rising concern for the tennis star, missing since alleging she was sexually exploited by a former vice-premier of China. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden's administration wanted China to "provide independent, verifiable proof" of Peng's whereabouts and expressed "deep concern" about the former world top-ranked doubles player. 

The United Nations insisted on a fully transparent investigation into the claims made by Peng against Communist Party grandee Zhang Gaoli. 

Tennis stars, sports bodies, governments and human rights defenders also spoke up for Peng, 35, and demanded information. 

The head of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) said he was prepared to cut lucrative business ties with China if Peng remains unaccounted for and her sexual assault allegations are not probed. 

Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka have also voiced their concerns for one of China's greatest ever players. 

"It would be important to have proof of her whereabouts and well-being," Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, told reporters in Geneva. 

"According to available information, Peng, a former world doubles number one, hasn't been heard from publicly since she alleged on social media that she had been sexually assaulted. 

"We are calling for an investigation with full transparency into her allegation of sexual assault." 

WTA threatens China pull-out 

Peng alleged on the Chinese social media site Weibo earlier this month that Zhang, now in his 70s, had "forced" her into sex during a long-term on-off relationship. 

The claims were quickly scrubbed from the Twitter-like platform and she has not been seen since. 

The WTA, the top world body for women's tennis, has called for proof that Peng is safe. 

Its boss Steve Simon said he is willing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Chinese business in one of the WTA's biggest markets to ensure Peng's safety. 

"We're definitely willing to pull our business and deal with all the complications that come with it," Simon told CNN. 

"Women need to be respected and not censored," he added. 

Tennis legend Serena Williams also demanded an investigation. 

"I am devastated and shocked to hear about the news of my peer, Peng Shuai," the former singles world number one wrote on Twitter. 

"This must be investigated and we must not stay silent." 

Peng represented China in the Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro Olympics and won gold for China at the 2010 Asian Games. 

She is a former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion. 

France said the international community and sports bodies were worried for Peng's situation. 

"We are concerned about the lack of information," the French foreign ministry said. 

"We call on the Chinese authorities to implement their commitments in the fight against violence against women." 

The Lawn Tennis Association, the sport's governing body in Britain, offered its assistance to the WTA in its efforts to establish Peng's safety. 

Email doubts 

Peng's claims brought the #MeToo movement into the highest echelons of China's ruling Communist Party for the first time. 

"The Chinese government has systematically silenced the country's #MeToo movement," said Amnesty International's China researcher Doriane Lau. 

"Given that it also has a zero-tolerance approach to criticism, it is deeply concerning that Peng Shuai appears to be missing," she said. 

China has repeatedly refused to comment on her fate or the case. 

But Hu Xijin, the outspoken editor of the Communist Party-owned Global Times, tweeted on Friday that he didn't believe that "Peng Shuai has received retaliation and repression speculated by foreign media for the thing people talked about". 

Earlier this week, state-run CGTN published a screenshot on Twitter of what it said was an email written by Peng to Simon and other WTA officials. 

In the email, Peng claims that her earlier accusations are "not true" and says she is "resting at home and everything is fine". 

But doubts were quickly flagged about the awkward language used in the purported email and the cursor visible in the screenshot. 

Simon said that he was struggling to believe the email was authentic. 

"I don't think there's any validity in it and we won't be comfortable until we have a chance to speak with her," he said. 

Amnesty's Lau said: "China's state media has a track record of forcing statements out of individuals under duress, or else simply fabricating them."

Chinese citizen journalist jailed for Wuhan virus reporting

Yahoo – AFP, 28 December 2020 

Authoroties said former Chinese lawyer and citizen journalist
Zhang Zhan had spread "False remarks" online.

A Chinese citizen journalist was jailed for four years Monday for her reporting from Wuhan as the Covid-19 outbreak began, her lawyer said, almost a year after details of an "unknown viral pneumonia" surfaced in the central China city. 

Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer who arrived at court in a wheelchair, was sentenced at a brief hearing in a Shanghai court for allegedly "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" during her reporting in the chaotic initial stages of the outbreak. 

Her live reports and essays were shared on social media platforms in February, grabbing the attention of authorities, who have punished eight virus whistleblowers so far as they curb criticism of the government's response to the outbreak. 

Beijing has congratulated itself for "extraordinary" success in controlling the virus inside its borders, with an economy on the rebound while much of the rest of the world stutters through painful lockdowns and surging caseloads a year on from the start of the pandemic in Wuhan. 

Controlling the information flow during an unprecedented global health crisis has been pivotal in allowing China's communist authorities to reframe the narrative in their favour, with President Xi Jinping being garlanded for his leadership by the country's ruling party. 

But that has come at a serious cost to anyone who has picked holes in the official storyline. 

The court said Zhang Zhan had spread "false remarks" online, according to one of her lawyers Zhang Keke, but the prosecution did not fully divulge its evidence in court. 

"We had no way of understanding what exactly Zhang Zhan was accused of doing," he added, describing it as "a speedy, rushed hearing." 

In return the defendant "didn't respond [to questions]... She refused to answer when the judge asked her to confirm her identity." 

The defendant's mother sobbed loudly as the verdict was read out, Ren Quanniu, another member of Zhang's defence team, told reporters who were barred from entering the court. 

Concerns are mounting over the health of 37-year-old Zhang, who began a hunger strike in June and has been force-fed via a nasal tube. 

Her legal team said her health was in decline and she suffered from headaches, dizziness and stomach pain, and that she had appeared in court in a wheelchair. 

"She said when I visited her (last week): 'If they give me a heavy sentence then I will refuse food until the very end.'... She thinks she will die in prison," Ren said before the trial. 

"It's an extreme method of protesting against this society and this environment." 

China's communist authorities have a history of putting dissidents on trial in opaque courts between Christmas and New Year in an effort to minimise Western scrutiny. 

Example made

The sentencing comes just weeks before an international team of World Health Organization experts is expected to arrive in China to investigate the origins of Covid-19. 

Zhang was critical of the early response in Wuhan, writing in a February essay that the government "didn't give people enough information, then simply locked down the city". 

"This is a great violation of human rights," she wrote. 

Rights groups and embassies have also drawn attention to her case, although diplomats from several countries were denied requests to monitor the hearing. 

"Zhang Zhan's case raises serious concerns about media freedom in China," the British embassy in Beijing said, urging "China to release all those detained for their reporting." 

Authorities "want to use her case as an example to scare off other dissidents from raising questions about the pandemic situation in Wuhan earlier this year", added Leo Lan, research and advocacy consultant at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders NGO. 

A United Nations official following the trial also expressed "deep concern" about the verdict. 

"We raised her case with the authorities throughout 2020 as an example of the excessive clampdown on freedom of expression linked to #COVID19 & continue to call for her release," the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a tweet. 

Zhang is the first of a group of four citizen journalists detained by authorities after reporting from Wuhan to face trial. 

Previous attempts by AFP to contact the other three -- Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua -- were unsuccessful. 

Related Article:

"Corona 1", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - 

(>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis)

Wuhan lab had three live bat coronaviruses: Chinese state media

Yahoo – AFP, May 24, 2020

The director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology told a Chinese state broadcaster
that the lab has three live strains of bat coronavirus on-site, but that claims the
coronavirus could have leaked from the facility were 'pure fabrication' (AFP Photo/
Hector RETAMAL)

The Chinese virology institute at the centre of US allegations it may have been the source of the COVID-19 pandemic has three live strains of bat coronavirus on-site, but none match the new global contagion, its director has said.

Scientists think COVID-19 -- which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has killed more than 340,000 people worldwide -- originated in bats and could have been transmitted to people via another mammal.

But the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology told state broadcaster CGTN that claims made by US President Donald Trump and others the virus could have leaked from the facility were "pure fabrication".

In the interview filmed on May 13 but broadcast Saturday night, Wang Yanyi said the centre has "isolated and obtained some coronaviruses from bats".

"Now we have three strains of live viruses... But their highest similarity to SARS-CoV-2 only reaches 79.8 percent," she said, referring to the coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19.

One of their research teams, led by Professor Shi Zhengli, has been researching bat coronaviruses since 2004 and focused on the "source tracing of SARS", the strain behind another virus outbreak nearly two decades ago.

"We know that the whole genome of SARS-CoV-2 is only 80 percent similar to that of SARS. It's an obvious difference," she said.

"So, in Professor Shi's past research, they didn't pay attention to such viruses which are less similar to the SARS virus."

Plans for more labs

Conspiracy rumours that the biosafety lab was involved in the outbreak swirled online for months before Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the theory into the mainstream by claiming that there is evidence the pathogen came from the institute.

The United States and Australia have called in recent weeks for an investigation into the origins of the pandemic.

Chinese scientists have said that the virus first emerged at a market selling live animals in Wuhan, though officials in Beijing more recently cast doubt about its origins.

Chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi on Sunday blasted what he called efforts by US politicians to "fabricate rumours" about the pathogen's origins and "stigmatise China".

He said China would be "open" to international cooperation to identify the source of the novel coronavirus, as long as any investigation is "free of political interference".

The World Health Organization has said Washington offered no evidence to support the "speculative" claims about the Wuhan lab.

The Wuhan lab has said it received samples of the then-unknown virus on December 30, determined the viral genome sequence on January 2 and submitted information on the pathogen to the WHO on January 11.

Wang Yanyi said in the interview that before it received samples in December, their team had never "encountered, researched or kept the virus".

"In fact, like everyone else, we didn't even know the virus existed," she said. "How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it?"

At a press conference Sunday, Zhao Chenxin, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, said every Chinese prefecture must have its own P3 laboratory to ramp up preparations against infectious diseases.

Apart from the P3 lab plans -- the second-highest biosafety classification for labs handling pathogens -- Zhao said each city should also have a lower-level P2 laboratory so they could "quickly respond in a major epidemic".

The Wuhan institute has both P3 and P4 labs.

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"Kryon on Corona", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar 13, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis and the Wuhan lab)

Trump urges China, Russia, US arms control in Putin call: W.House

Yahoo – AFP, May 7, 2020

US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin discussed arms control
issues in a phone call (AFP Photo/JIM WATSON, EMMANUEL DUNAND)

US President Donald Trump called Thursday for involving China in new arms control talks with Russia, telling his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that they need to avoid a "costly arms race," the White House said.

"President Trump reaffirmed that the United States is committed to effective arms control that includes not only Russia, but also China, and looks forward to future discussions to avoid a costly arms race," a statement said.

Trump and Putin spoke by phone, also discussing the global coronavirus pandemic, the White House said.

"President Trump reiterated that the United States is working hard to care for Americans at home and is also ready to provide assistance to any country in need, including Russia," the statement said.

Russia and the United States -- rivals during the four decades of the Cold War -- ripped up the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty this year, blaming one another for its demise.

That deal was seen as a cornerstone of global security and its burial sparked fears of a new arms race.

Washington is threatening to quit the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or "New START", when it expires next year.

New START -- which obliged them to halve the number of missile launchers and set up a new verification regime -- is seen as the last major deal keeping their arsenals below the Cold War peak.

However, Trump has been pushing for China to be brought into a future deal, arguing that Beijing's missile and nuclear capability is rapidly expanding.

US, China block UN resolution in spat over WHO handling of pandemic

Yahoo –AFP, April 30, 2020

The UN General Assembly in New York (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

The United States and China remained at loggerheads Thursday over a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for a 90-day humanitarian pause in conflicts worldwide in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

The stalemate -- over a mention of the World Health Organization -- leaves little hope of a quick vote as the Security Council struggles to find a response to the global crisis, remaining largely mute since the once-in-a-century pandemic began killing tens of thousands of people and shutting down economies across the world.

"It's a major stalemate, nobody's moving," one diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We're treading water," said another.

At a news conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres deplored the impasse.

"It's absolutely essential that countries come together and that the big powers are able to overcome their difficulties in order to allow for the Security Council to be more active and more effective," he said.

"We need unity and strength from the international community. All our efforts depend on strong political backing."

The text, authored by France and Tunisia and obtained by AFP, has been under discussion for weeks.

It calls for a 90-day humanitarian pause to bring aid to the most vulnerable populations caught in conflicts around the globe, including in places such as Afghanistan and Yemen.

The draft also supports a March 23 plea by Guterres for a worldwide ceasefire to facilitate the fight against the coronavirus.

But Washington and Beijing remain at loggerheads over how to refer to the World Health Organization (WHO) in the text.

The UN General Assembly in New York (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

The WHO's role in dealing with the pandemic has been vilified by US President Donald Trump, who complained it had not been transparent about the coronavirus and suspended US funding to it. China responded by offering additional funding.

China "insists on a mention of the World Health Organization" in the text, while the United States does not want it, several diplomats explained, asking for anonymity.

"We don't comment on ongoing negotiations" at the Security Council, the US State Department said when asked about the stalemate.

No reaction could be obtained from the Chinese mission to the UN.

The co-authors of the text, like the rest of the Security Council, are reduced to waiting for a compromise between the two permanent members, each of which has a right of veto.

There has been no progress since the beginning of the week, other diplomats added.

Blank paragraph

A vote had been expected this week, and Guterres has been pressing for one for more than a month. But this seems less and less likely over the short term because of the disagreement between the US and China.

"I am particularly worried about the lack of sufficient solidarity with developing countries -- both in equipping them to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, which risks spreading like wildfire, and to address the dramatic economic and social impacts," Guterres said.

One diplomat said there will probably not be a vote this week."Let's see if next week will bring something new," this diplomat said.

The stalemate could end quickly if the US and China find a compromise, one Western ambassador said. The WHO mention is just a side issue in a draft centered on support for a ceasefire in some 20 war or conflict zones around the world, this ambassador said.

As it stands, the resolution now has a blank space where the WHO mention is supposed to go and how to fashion it will be decided at the end of the negotiations. France and Tunisia could simply decide to scrap such a mention altogether, although this idea might be vetoed by China, with support from Russia.

Except for a virtual meeting on April 9, the Security Council has remained silent on the biggest global crisis since World War II.