US scuppers G20 coronavirus statement on strengthening WHO
Source: The Guardian
US scuppers G20 coronavirus statement on strengthening WHO
Exclusive: objections leave health ministers unable to agree joint communique on cooperation
Patrick Wintour Fiona Harvey and Peter Beaumont
Mon 20 Apr 2020 11.57 BST
Last modified on Mon 20 Apr 2020 13.07 BST
US hostility to the World Health Organization scuppered the publication of a communique by G20 health ministers on Sunday that committed to strengthening the WHO’s mandate in coordinating a response to the global coronavirus pandemic.
In place of a lengthy statement with paragraphs of detail, the leaders instead issued a brief statement saying that gaps existed in the way the world handled pandemics.
The failure to agree on a statement will underline the extent to which the pandemic has become a theatre for a wider global disagreement between the US and China in which other nation states are finding themselves increasingly forced to take sides.
Donald Trump has suspended US payments to the WHO in protest at what he regards as the body’s China-centric approach, reflected – in his view – by its failure to challenge China sufficiently over the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, the health minister for Saudi Arabia, which was hosting the virtual summit, abruptly cancelled a planned press conference on Sunday, saying he urgently needed to attend a domestic coronavirus taskforce meeting.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/20/us-scuppers-g20-coronavirus-statement-on-strengthening-who