III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 18 

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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 27, 2021 

Mr. HAWLEY (for himself, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. CRAMER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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 doctors in response to their decisions to warn other Chinese 

citizens of the danger posed by this new disease; 


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•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 Virology 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 Commission 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 announced in Thailand; 

Whereas, on January 14, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that the Government of the People’s Republic of China had seen ‘‘no clear evidence of humanto-human transmission of the novel coronavirus’’; 

Whereas, on January 23, 2020, the Government of the People’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; 


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•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 Republic 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 ‘‘separate outbreaks in multiple places in the world’’; 

Whereas the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic 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 earlier intervention by the Government of the People’s Republic of China could have ‘‘significantly’’ limited the geographic spread of COVID–19; 

Whereas more than 120 nations have called for an investigation 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 access by investigators to certain locations and information 

in the People’s Republic of China: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) condemns the decision by the Government 

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•SRES 18 IS 

1 gence and spread of COVID–19 within its borders 

2 during the initial weeks of the pandemic; 

3 (2) assesses that the decision by the Govern4 ment of the People’s Republic of China to hide the 

5 emergence and spread of COVID–19 during that pe6 riod almost certainly contributed to the rapid spread 

7 of that disease throughout the Indo-Pacific, Europe, 

8 and the rest of the world; 

9 (3) finds that the Government of the People’s 

10 Republic of China should be held accountable for the 

11 impact of its decision to hide the emergence and 

12 spread of COVID–19 on the lives and livelihoods of 

13 the people of the United States and other nations; 

14 (4) calls for an international investigation led 

15 by public health officials from the United States and 

16 other affected nations and free from any restrictions 

17 by the Government of the People’s Republic of 

18 China to determine how the handling by the Govern19 ment of the People’s Republic of China of the 

20 COVID–19 outbreak prior to March 11, 2020, con21 tributed to the emergence of the COVID–19 global 

22 pandemic; and 

23 (5) calls on the international community— 

24 (A) to quantify the harm caused by the 

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•SRES 18 IS 

1 public of China to the health and economic well2 being of the people of the United States and 

3 other nations; and 

4 (B) to design a mechanism for delivering 

5 compensation from the Government of the Peo6 ple’s Republic of China to all affected nations 

7 for the harm caused by its decision to hide the 

8 emergence and spread of COVID–19 during the 

9 initial weeks of the pandemic. 

Æ 


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