“China supports WHO in leading the global efforts to develop science-based and proper control
and treatment and minimize cross-border spread.” Chinese President Xi Jinping’s remarks at the
G20 Extraordinary Leaders' Summit on COVID-19 on March 26 revealed China’s active support
for international organizations.
Such gesture showed China’s sense of responsibility of a major country at this critical moment,
empowering the world in fighting against the pandemic.
China also called on G20 members to enhance anti-pandemic information sharing with the support
of WHO and to promote control and treatment protocols that are comprehensive, systematic and
effective. The G20 platform for communication and coordination shall be used to increase policy
dialogue and exchange, and high-level meetings on international public health security shall be
convened in due course.
These detailed suggestions on multilateral cooperation raised by China at the summit showcased
the country’s readiness to enhance international coordination to cope with the current crisis.
Mankind is a community with a shared future. Therefore, the lives and health of people of all
countries can only be fully protected when mankind defeats the virus as a whole.
International coordination must be in place for the world to respond timely to any sudden outbreak
of public health incidence. And in this process, international organizations’ role cannot be
overemphasized.
As a specialized organization for health affairs within the United Nations (UN) system, WHO
shoulders significant responsibilities in early testing and warning, coordinating prevention and
control strategies, sharing treatment and organizing international assistance of infectious diseases,
and plays a vital role in building a global public health emergency response mechanism featuring
risk sharing and common security.
Currently, WHO is making all-out efforts to mobilize the international community to cope with the
coronavirus pandemic and giving full play to its leadership together with relevant international
and regional organizations by launching multiple laboratories, and accelerating the pace in
building a global testing network. Besides, it is also mobilizing international forces to speed up
scientific research and innovation, setting up the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund with
the UN Foundation and other relevant partners and has released guidelines on basic health
services.
To actively participate in global health governance and contribute to the cause of global public
health is a responsibility that conforms to the common interests of the mankind. The consensus of
the G20 Extraordinary Leaders' Summit on COVID-19 embodies the expectation of the world.
The G20 is committed to do whatever it takes to overcome the pandemic, along with WHO and
other international organizations, working within their existing mandates. The G20 fully supports
and commits to further strengthening the WHO’s mandate in coordinating the international fight
against the pandemic. G20 members will quickly work together and with stakeholders to close the
financing gap in the WHO Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. And they will further
commit to provide immediate resources to the WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, as
well as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation.
What matters the most is that the G20 has vowed to deliver on the promises with tangible efforts.
China has always advocated and implemented multilateralism as well as supported international
organizations’ roles in global health governance. Since the onset of the COVID-19, the country
has been working closely the WHO.
"The speed with which China detected the outbreak, isolated the virus, sequenced the genome and
shared it with WHO and the world are very impressive, and beyond words,” said Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, director general of WHO.
China has always been a staunch supporter of the WHO, offering convenience to the
organization’s field visit to the epicenter Wuhan, and the China-WHO Joint Mission on COVID-
19. It also shared experiences with and provided material assistance for the WHO.
In addition, China has decided to donate $20 million to WHO to support its international efforts in
combating COVID-19, a gesture hailed as “a reflection of the global solidarity” by Tedros.
However, it is alarming that some ill-intended people stigmatized the WHO at the critical moment
when the joint efforts to combat the disease are badly in need, regardless of other people’s lives
and security. Such practice is just as dangerous as the virus itself.
Erik Berglof, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs London School of Economics and Political
Science of the UK, noted in his analysis that “the WHO has withstood heavy criticism lately, as it
has during past epidemics, but much of this faultfinding is misdirected, ill-informed, and
counterproductive.” “To succeed, G20 governments will need to listen to and work with
international organisations – beginning with the WHO,” and “The WHO remains the only
institution that can provide global health leadership and inspire the trust needed to intervene.”
Lancet underlined that WHO’s core role in coordinating efforts of the whole world must continue
in an editorial.
To combat the COVID-19 that is sweeping through the world calls for great synergy. “Covid-19 is
the greatest test that we have faced together since the formation of the United Nations," said UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, calling for a much stronger and more effective global
response to the coronavirus pandemic. He stressed that this will only be possible “if everybody
comes together and if we forget political games.”
The crisis not only poses a challenge for the UN, but also the international community. For this
reason, only by solidarity and cooperation can human beings have the power to prevail over it and
secure their lives.
