Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday said that he supports an
investigation into the origin of Coronavirus and the international
response to it’s spread after 120 nations joined US President Trump’s
calls for an investigation into into the novel Coronavirus pandemic at
the United Nations General Assembly.
China had previously rejected a WHO investigation on grounds it was
an attempt by the United States to blame Beijing but Xi Jinping in a
virtual address Monday, told the World Health Organization’s annual
assembly that he supports an international review led by the WHO — once
the health emergency ends and pledged $2 billion to the fight against
the virus that has killed at least 300,000 people and infected more than
4.7 million worldwide.
Speaking to the World Health Organization’s annual meeting of the
World Health Assembly on Monday, Xi said China would support the WHO
conducting an investigation, while defending that his country has “acted
with openness, transparency and responsibility.”
President Donald Trump and members of his administration have at
times openly questioned the existing medical consensus that the virus
likely started in an animal and began its spread at a “wet market” in
Wuhan, China.
On April 30, Trump said he had a “high degree of confidence” the virus
originated in a Wuhan laboratory, while China released an animated
propaganda video mocking the American response.
Trump has blamed China for the spread of the Virus and even accused
the World Health Organization of partnering with China to hide the true
extent of the disease when it initially started to spread in January.
Trump has since withheld close to $400m of US funds to the UN Health body.
In the United States, there are nearly 1.5 million cases have been confirmed and the death toll is approaching 90,000.
The 73rd annual World Health Assembly is being conducted virtually this year, with proceedings scheduled throughout Monday.
