WHO Photo:VCG

 
China welcomes the return of the US to the World Health Organization (WHO) while stating it is difficult for the US to win back global confidence given the country’s behaviors over recent years that has damaged international cooperation, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the US said Sunday, calling for the US to take real actions rather than pointing fingers at others.  

“The WHO is an authoritative multilateral international organization in the field of health, not a funfair where one can come and go at will,” read the spokesperson’s statement released on the embassy’s website.

It came one day after the White House released a statement claiming that the US’ re-engaging the WHO means holding it to the highest standards, and asking that all countries participate in a transparent and robust process for preventing and responding to health emergencies.

The statement expressed “deep concerns” about the way in which the early findings of the COVID-19 investigation were communicated and questions about the process used to reach them” and whether the experts’ findings in China are “free from intervention or alteration by the Chinese government.”

The way the US has acted in recent years has severely undermined multilateral institutions, including the WHO, and gravely damaged international cooperation on COVID-19.

But the US, acting as if none of this had ever happened, is pointing fingers at other countries who have been faithfully supporting the WHO and at the WHO itself. With such a track record, how can it win back global confidence? the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the US asked.

The spokesperson called for the US to hold itself to the highest standards, take a serious, earnest, transparent and responsible attitude, shoulder its rightful responsibility, support the WHO's work with real actions and make due contribution to the international cooperation on COVID-19 as “the whole world will be looking.”

Global Times