How China-US mistrust pushed the WHO into a coronavirus corner

The health body suggested more than a dozen American names for an international team to help assess the outbreak

But there is still no official word on whether any US representatives will be part of the team

Reading Time:3 minutes

A WHO team will begin its investigation into the coronavirus outbreak this weekend. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Published: 10:00pm, 15 Feb 2020Updated: 11:35pm, 15 Feb 2020

Mistrust between Beijing and Washington has tainted US offers of help to contain a deadly coronavirus outbreak, forcing the World Health Organisation (WHO) into a political corner, analysts said.

US officials said they first offered to send American specialists to China as part of a WHO mission in early January but despite Chinese President Xi Jinping’s calls to deepen international cooperation in the public health crisis, that offer had yet to be accepted.

US officials said on Thursday that no American had been invited to China to take part, despite Americans accounting for 13 of the 25 names that the WHO submitted to China for the mission.

On Friday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the final WHO team comprised of 12 international experts and 12 from China, and would begin its investigation into the spread of the outbreak and its severity this weekend.

Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO health emergencies programme, said he believed the mission would include health officials from the US, without elaborating.

Observers say growing strategic distrust between China and the US had influenced Beijing’s reaction to US offers of aid, with the Chinese foreign ministry earlier slamming the US for not providing “substantive assistance” and for having “inappropriately overreacted” with strict travel restrictions.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x