China facing pressure over Covid-19 and Taiwan at World Health Assembly

Beijing is expected to face new levels of pressure at the World Health Assembly this week as dozens of nations push for an independent investigation into the coronavirus outbreak and the United States mounts a campaign over Taiwan’s status.

More than 120 countries have backed a draft resolution pushed by the European Union and Australia calling for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19, while a US-led coalition has been aggressively lobbying countries to support Taiwan’s bid to attend as an observer.

China has blocked Taiwan, which Beijing claims is part of China, from attending the meeting since 2016 as relations between Beijing and Taipei worsened following the election of Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party.

The WHA – the governing body of the World Health Organization – meets over video conference for two days starting on Monday. In the run-up to the conference China has accused member states of politicising the meeting.

A report in the official news agency Xinhua on Sunday said “the US and other countries” were “determined to discuss Taiwan-related proposals for only one purpose: to politicise health issues and achieve their own interests at the expense of kidnapping the the World Health Assembly and hurting global cooperation”.

An article in the official People’s Daily on Monday said: “Any attempt to use the WHO as a tool for geopolitical games is tantamount to a challenge to humankind’s right to health.” An editorial in the Global Times said: “A politicised appeal won’t be supported at the assembly … The US has messed up its Covid-19 fight but intends to shift the responsibility onto China. Such a plan is bound to backfire.”

Taiwan’s foreign minister said it did not get invited to this week’s meeting, adding that it had agreed to put the issue off until later this year.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which first emerged in Wuhan last December, has placed China under more scrutiny as critics call for an investigation into how the virus was able to spread across the world. It has now infected more than 4.7 million people and killed 315,000.

The resolution on Covid-19 will be put forward on Tuesday if it gains backing from two-thirds of the 194 members of the assembly.

Beijing, which has repeatedly said that researchers have not yet determined the source of the virus and raised the possibility that it may have originated elsewhere, has described such calls as an effort by countries to deflect from their own failures. Chinese authorities appear to be putting more controls on research into the origins of the virus as well as blocking international observers from fully participating in efforts.

“China’s reluctance to allow the international community to investigate and its enthusiasm in creating all sorts of conspiracy theories pointing to non-China origins of the virus only make the world more eager to know the answer,” said Ho-Fung Hung, a professor in political economy at Johns Hopkins University, with a focus on China.

Allies of China like Indonesia and Russia are among the countries demanding independent investigation, Hung noted. “Beijing will find it difficult to resist without risking further damage of its international image,” he said.

As criticism over China has increased over the last few months, support of Taiwan, seen as having successfully managed the outbreak, has grown. Previous bids by Taiwan, which had observer status as a nonvoting observer at the WHO for seven years until 2016, have not gained as much traction. Taiwan will need a simple majority of the 194 member states to support its attendance.

“Beijing has failed to shape the narrative on COVID-19, pressed too hard diplomatically against countries critical of its response, and come off as prioritising its image and its own interests, including on Taiwan, over global health,” said Jessica Drun, a non-resident fellow at Project 2049, a think tank focusing on security in the Asia Pacific region.

“In the past, Taiwan’s bids have not gained as much traction as it is currently, and I think that’s largely due to the example Taiwan is setting to the world on not only how to effectively combat the disease on the home front, but also in sharing best practices through informal channels with the international community,” Drun said.