ExclusiveCoronavirus: WHO row between US, China sees G20 leaders summit called off at last minute, source says

The Group of 20 (G20) planned to hold a second virtual leaders’ summit on Friday, to be attended by President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump

But the video conference was called off amid US-China row over World Health Organisation (WHO), but could happen in near future

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In addition to the leaders’ summit at the end of March, Saudi Arabia had already organised a slew of virtual conferences involving G20 ministers of health, trade, finance, agriculture and labour. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:30am, 25 Apr 2020Updated: 11:32pm, 25 Apr 2020

A planned video conference between G20 leaders on Friday was called off at the last minute due to a bitter quarrel between China and United States over the role of World Health Organisation, according to a source who was involved in the preparation for the call.

The source, who declined to be named due to the private nature of the debates, said that the US has been insisting on holding the World Health Organisation (WHO) accountable for its early activities in handling the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 190,000 people across the globe, including close to 50,000 in the US.

China, on the other hand, strongly refuses to discuss proposals to investigate the WHO, the source said.

“As such, the conference was called off at the last minute,” they said, adding that the summit could still happen in the near future, if both sides can agree on a compromise over the WHO, or at least over the wording on the WHO in the G20 communique.

The US thinks the WHO was partial to China and China should be responsible for the heavy losses in the US

Shen Dingli

The proposed video conference, which would have been attended by President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, was not shown on the official agenda published by Saudi Arabia, the Group of 20 (G20) president for 2020.

The G20 organising committee did not immediately respond to an email requesting for comment on the video conference.

“China thinks the US ordered a halt in funding for the WHO to get rid of the poor leadership in combating the coronavirus and try to blame China, but the US thinks the WHO was partial to China and that China should be responsible for the heavy losses in the US,” said Shen Dingli, a professor of international relations at Fudan University in Shanghai.