Beijing yesterday insisted that it had shared information on COVID-19 “without holding anything back,” after the WHO implored China to offer more data and access to understand the disease’s origins.
COVID-19, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2020, went on to kill millions of people, shred economies and overwhelm health systems.
The WHO on Monday published a statement saying that it was a “moral and scientific imperative” for China to share more information.
Photo: Reuters
In response, China defended its transparency, saying it had made the “largest contribution to global origin tracing research.”
“Five years ago ... China immediately shared epidemic information and viral gene sequence with the WHO and the international community,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said.
“Without holding anything back, we shared our prevention, control and treatment experience,” she said.
Over the course of the pandemic, the WHO repeatedly criticized Chinese authorities for their lack of transparency and cooperation.
A team of specialists led by the WHO and accompanied by Chinese colleagues conducted an investigation into the pandemic’s origins in early 2021.
In a joint report, they favored the hypothesis that the virus had been transmitted by an intermediary animal from a bat to a human, possibly at a market.
A team has not been able to return to China since, and WHO officials have repeatedly asked for additional data.
Mao yesterday said that “more and more clues” pointed “to COVID-19’s origins having a global scope.”
China is “willing to continue working with various parties to promote global scientific origin tracing, and to make active efforts to prevent potential infectious diseases in the future,” she said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last month said that “the world would still face some of the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that gave COVID-19 a foothold five years ago” if a new pandemic emerged today, “but the world has also learnt many of the painful lessons the pandemic taught us, and has taken significant steps to strengthen its defenses against future epidemics and pandemics.”
Spooked by the devastation caused by COVID-19, nations in December 2021 decided to start drafting an accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The WHO’s 194 member states negotiating the treaty have agreed on most of what it should include, but are stuck on the practicalities.
A key fault line lies between Western nations with major pharmaceutical industry sectors and poorer nations wary of being sidelined when the next pandemic strikes.
While the outstanding issues are few, they include the heart of the agreement: the obligation to quickly share emerging pathogens, and then the pandemic-fighting benefits derived from them such as vaccines.
The deadline for the negotiations is May.
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
SECURITY: Taipei presses the US for arms supplies, saying the arms sales are not only a reflection of the US security commitment to Taiwan but also serve as a mutual deterrent against regional threats Taiwan is committed to preserving the cross-strait “status quo” and contributing to regional peace and stability, the Presidential Office said yesterday. “It is an undeniable fact that the Republic of China is a sovereign and independent democratic nation,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) reiterated, adding that Beijing has no right to claim sovereignty over Taiwan. The statements came after US President Donald Trump warned against Taiwanese independence. Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had pressed him not to support Taiwan. Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying
The subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in Kumamoto, Japan, turned a profit in the first quarter of this year, marking the first time the first fab of the unit has become profitable since mass production started at the end of 2024. According to the contract chipmaker’s financial statement released on Friday, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), a joint venture running the fab in Kumamoto, posted NT$951 million (US$30.19 million) in profit in the January-to-March period, compared with a loss of NT$1.39 billion in the previous quarter, and a loss of NT$3.25 billion in the first quarter of
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
RSS