WASHINGTON (XINHUA, REUTERS) - The United States should hold itself to the highest standards and support the World Health Organisation's work with real actions, and should not be "pointing fingers" at China and other countries that supported the WHO during the Covid-19 pandemic, said a spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in the United States on Saturday (Feb 13).
"China welcomes the return of the US to the World Health Organisation. The WHO is an authoritative multilateral international organisation in the field of health, not a funfair where one can come and go at will," said the spokesman in response to a statement from US national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
What the United States has done in recent years has "severely undermined" multilateral institutions, including the WHO, and "gravely damaged" international cooperation on fighting Covid-19, the spokesman noted.
The United States, "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," the spokesman said, adding "With such a track record, how can it win the confidence of the whole world?"
Sullivan on Saturday called on China to make available data from the earliest days of the Covid-19 outbreak, citing "deep concerns" about the way the findings of the WHO's investigation into the origins of Covid-19 were communicated.
The Chinese embassy spokesman said it is hoped that the United States will "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."
"The whole world will be looking," he said.