White House: China Does Not Cooperate with WHO's COVID Origin Investigation

Following Biden Administration's Economic Pressure on China, COVID-19 Response Also Shows Conflict
Emphasis on China's Opacity
Contrasted with Biden's $2 Billion COVAX Donation

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Following the Biden administration's emphasis on its policy to pressure China, it has now criticized China's response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Jake Sullivan, U.S. National Security Council (NSC) Advisor, expressed concern in an interview with CBS on the 21st (local time), "We do not believe China has provided sufficient raw data on how this pandemic began to spread."

He added, "We believe that the WHO and China need to address this issue."

Advisor Sullivan previously issued a statement on the 13th, demanding that China provide all data related to the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 to the WHO, and criticized China for attempting to interfere with the World Health Organization (WHO) report.

The WHO recently dispatched a team of experts to Wuhan, China, to investigate the origin of COVID-19, but later reversed its position, causing controversy.

The WHO investigation team announced that they found important clues about the origin of COVID-19 at Wuhan's seafood market but stated at a press conference that they did not find evidence that Wuhan was the origin.

This led some to suspect that there might have been Chinese influence exerted.

Sullivan's criticism of China contrasts with President Joe Biden's emphasis on the international community's joint response to COVID-19 during the G7 virtual summit on the 19th.

At the G7 summit, President Biden also announced plans to donate $2 billion to 'COVAX,' an international vaccine procurement project.

Sullivan's remarks are particularly notable as they come amid the Biden administration's efforts to regain influence over the WHO, including rejoining the organization after the Trump administration's withdrawal and pledging $200 million in funding.

This suggests that the U.S. may be trying to block China's influence within the WHO as well.

Sullivan also recalled that "President Joe Biden raised the COVID-19 issue during a recent call with Chinese President Xi Jinping."

Matthew Pottinger, who served as Deputy NSC Advisor under the Donald Trump administration, also criticized China for attempting to conceal the spread of COVID-19 in an interview with CS on the same day.

Pottinger claimed, "Chinese health authorities seemed to have been somewhat excluded because the Chinese Communist Party turned to the military to cover up the situation," and argued that even the head of China's health authorities was unaware of the spread of COVID-19 in China until the end of 2019.