Nikki Haley Urges Congress to Investigate CCP's Role in Pandemic

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley speaks during a news conference at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, New York, on Sept. 20, 2018. (Jeenah Moon/Reuters)

Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, launched a petition Thursday urging Congress to investigate the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) role in the pandemic and to hold the regime accountable for its actions around the world.

"We have long warned about the threats China’s Communist government poses. Now we are seeing just how dangerous China is. The time for warnings is over. We must act and protect American security, health, and prosperity," Haley said.

Haley launched the "Stop Communist China" petition through her advocacy group, Stand for America, saying that the CCP's influence has seeped into multilateral organizations.

“Right now, they head up a civil aviation organization, they head up an agricultural organization, they almost became the head of the world intellectual property organization until Singapore came in and saved us from that; they're on the Human Rights Council, and now we're seeing their influence in the World Health Organization (WHO),” Haley said.

President Donald Trump paused U.S. funding to the WHO this month amid widespread criticism that they mishandled the CCP virus, a novel coronavirus that emerged from mainland China last year.

“They called it wrong. They missed the call. They could have called it months earlier. They would have known. They should have known. And they probably did know. So we’ll be looking into that very carefully,” the president told reporters in Washington earlier in April, referring to the CCP virus.

The review will focus on whether the WHO is being run well, said John Barsa, acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, on Wednesday.

“The President is right to say I'm going to withhold money until I get answers, they owe us those answers, and they can talk about the victimization. What about the victimization of Americans who have had to deal with this crisis? What about victimization of so many other people and other countries in the world?” Haley told Fox News.

Another goal of the petition is to have Congress bring the manufacture of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals back to the United States from China. This is a sentiment that has recently been echoed by a number of U.S. lawmakers.

“We must make the kinds of changes that we know are necessary because of the vulnerabilities that this pandemic has exposed. We cannot be reliant on the Chinese Communist Party for our pharmaceuticals. We cannot be in a position where they can blackmail us,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said Wednesday at a Capitol Hill press briefing.

There has been legislation introduced in both the House and Senate to counter the CCP’s cybersecurity threat, to investigate their mishandling of the virus, and to protect U.S. medical supply chains.

The petition also asks Congress to support Taiwan and allow it to join the WHO. Haley goes further to say the CCP’s funding of American colleges and research should be transparent and public information.

On Wednesday, she recommended that the United States convene an emergency Security Council meeting “on China’s involvement and knowledge of the virus.”