A resolution in support of an international investigation into the handling by the Government of the People's Republic of China of COVID-19 and the impact thereof on the people of the United States and other nations.

III 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. RES. 18 In support of an international investigation into the handling by the Govern- ment of the People’s Republic of China of COVID–19 and the impact thereof on the people of the United States and other nations. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 27, 2021 Mr. HAWLEY (for himself, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. CRAMER) submitted the fol- lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Rela- tions RESOLUTION In support of an international investigation into the handling by the Government of the People’s Republic of China of COVID–19 and the impact thereof on the people of the United States and other nations. Whereas the novel coronavirus, hereafter referred to as COVID–19, emerged in the People’s Republic of China and began to spread as early as November 2019; Whereas, by late December, dozens of citizens of the People’s Republic of China had fallen victim to COVID–19; Whereas, on December 30, 2019, Wuhan health authorities identified, interrogated, and reprimanded multiple doc- tors in response to their decisions to warn other Chinese citizens of the danger posed by this new disease; VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jan 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR18.IS SR18 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •SRES 18 IS Whereas, on January 1, 2020, the Wuhan Public Security Bureau questioned eight Chinese doctors who had posted information on COVID–19 on WeChat; Whereas, on January 1, 2020, the Hubei Provincial Health Commission ordered laboratories to stop testing for COVID–19 and destroy samples of the same; Whereas, on January 2, 2020, the Wuhan Institute of Virol- ogy mapped the genome of COVID–19 in order to inform development of public health interventions and medical treatments for COVID–19, but the Government of the People’s Republic of China withheld genetic information on COVID–19 until January 9; Whereas, on January 11, 2020, the Wuhan Health Commis- sion insisted that there were no new cases of infection by COVID–19; Whereas, on January 13, 2020, the first identified COVID– 19 case outside of the People’s Republic of China was an- nounced in Thailand; Whereas, on January 14, 2020, the World Health Organiza- tion announced that the Government of the People’s Re- public of China had seen ‘‘no clear evidence of human- to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus’’; Whereas, on January 23, 2020, the Government of the Peo- ple’s Republic of China began to implement quarantine measures to stem the spread of COVID–19, at the same time as the disease had already begun to proliferate throughout the world; Whereas, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID–19 a global pandemic, with at least 118,000 persons infected and at least 4,291 dead in 114 different countries at the time of the announcement; VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jan 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR18.IS SR18 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •SRES 18 IS Whereas, by January 21, 2021, one year after the first COVID–19 case was confirmed in the United States, COVID–19 had infected at least 97,061,592 persons and killed at least 2,080,009 in 191 different countries; Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China argues that COVID–19 did not originate in the People’s Republic of China; Whereas the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Re- public of China has alleged that the United States Army may have delivered COVID–19 to the city of Wuhan and that COVID–19 may have originated in Italy or ‘‘sepa- rate outbreaks in multiple places in the world’’; Whereas the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Re- public of China has said, ‘‘China’s endeavor to combating [sic] the epidemic has bought time for [international] preparedness.’’; Whereas a University of Southampton study found that ear- lier intervention by the Government of the People’s Re- public of China could have ‘‘significantly’’ limited the ge- ographic spread of COVID–19; Whereas more than 120 nations have called for an investiga- tion of the origins of COVID–19; and Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China continues to prevent a credible international investigation of the origins of COVID–19, including by restricting ac- cess by investigators to certain locations and information in the People’s Republic of China: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate— 1 (1) condemns the decision by the Government 2 of the People’s Republic of China to hide the emer- 3 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jan 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR18.IS SR18 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •SRES 18 IS gence and spread of COVID–19 within its borders 1 during the initial weeks of the pandemic; 2 (2) assesses that the decision by the Govern- 3 ment of the People’s Republic of China to hide the 4 emergence and spread of COVID–19 during that pe- 5 riod almost certainly contributed to the rapid spread 6 of that disease throughout the Indo-Pacific, Europe, 7 and the rest of the world; 8 (3) finds that the Government of the People’s 9 Republic of China should be held accountable for the 10 impact of its decision to hide the emergence and 11 spread of COVID–19 on the lives and livelihoods of 12 the people of the United States and other nations; 13 (4) calls for an international investigation led 14 by public health officials from the United States and 15 other affected nations and free from any restrictions 16 by the Government of the People’s Republic of 17 China to determine how the handling by the Govern- 18 ment of the People’s Republic of China of the 19 COVID–19 outbreak prior to March 11, 2020, con- 20 tributed to the emergence of the COVID–19 global 21 pandemic; and 22 (5) calls on the international community— 23 (A) to quantify the harm caused by the 24 handling of the Government of the People’s Re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jan 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR18.IS SR18 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •SRES 18 IS public of China to the health and economic well- 1 being of the people of the United States and 2 other nations; and 3 (B) to design a mechanism for delivering 4 compensation from the Government of the Peo- 5 ple’s Republic of China to all affected nations 6 for the harm caused by its decision to hide the 7 emergence and spread of COVID–19 during the 8 initial weeks of the pandemic. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jan 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR18.IS SR18 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS