Speaking at the opening of the World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting on May 18, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that Beijing would contribute two billion USD to fight Covid-19 as well as deploy doctors and nurses.
The money will be spent over two years, more than twice the amount the US contributed to the WHO before President Donald Trump decided to cut funding last month.
Chinese President Xi Jinping during the WHO online meeting on May 18.
But many people, especially US officials, see this as an attempt to `send hush money` to other countries to pre-empt the investigation into whether China hid information about the epidemic.
WHA, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), was held online this year over two days due to Covid-19 concerns.
`In China, after diligent efforts and sacrifices, we have fought back against the virus and saved many lives,` Mr. Xi said.
After Mr. Xi spoke, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex M. Azar II countered by harshly criticizing both the WHO and China.
`To hide the epidemic, at least one member state ignored its own transparency obligations, causing the world to suffer major consequences,` Azar said, referring to China.
Trump administration officials criticized China’s financial contribution statement as an attempt to influence the WHO when many member countries want to investigate whether the organization `colluded` with Beijing and lacked transparency.
`China’s commitment of two billion USD is intended to distract as more and more countries demand that China be held accountable for failing to fulfill its obligations under international regulations to tell the truth and warn the world,` John
`Because it is where Covid-19 originated, China has a special responsibility to spend more money and give more,` he added, emphasizing that although the US stopped funding the WHO, Washington has committed to spending a total of
US-China tensions at the conference also increased regarding the Taiwan issue.
China has always considered Taiwan a part of its territory awaiting reunification and opposed the island’s participation in the WHA.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accepted criticism of the way the organization handled the epidemic in the early stages, saying the agency would evaluate `all lessons learned`.
In recent weeks, both China’s leaders and people have increasingly felt the international criticism and antipathy towards China’s handling of the epidemic in the early stages.
China’s `wolf warrior` diplomatic strategy and poor quality export batches of medical equipment also contribute to increasing tensions.
In that context, combined with the fact that the Chinese parliament will begin meeting in Beijing on May 22, Mr. Xi’s move to pledge funding seems to be an effort to win international support and appease
`This is certainly a troubling time for Xi,` said Dali L. Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago.
Trump’s withdrawal from the international stage creates an opportunity for China, which is seeking to reshape multilateral institutions that Washington has long dominated.
`Mr. Xi is always quick to take advantage of opportunities to serve China’s interests,` Hass said.
Meanwhile, at the WHA, other leaders complained about the world’s lack of solidarity against the pandemic and called on countries to put aside disagreements, without naming any specific country.
