At the first meeting of the World Health Organization’s governing body since coronavirus stormed the globe, China is set to be challenged on two of its most sensitive issues: The Communist Party’s initial handling of the virus and the status of Taiwan’s participation.
While the U.S. has launched a daily barrage of attacks on China, including suggesting the virus escaped from a laboratory in the central city of Wuhan, the European Union and Australia are set to play a key role pushing for a probe into the virus’s origin when the World Health Assembly — WHO’s decision-making body — gathers on Monday for an annual meeting in Geneva.
A U.S.-backed bloc is also pushing for Taiwan, whose handling of the virus has been a rare success story, to attend the meeting as an observer. The move — aimed at strengthening Taiwan’s official and unofficial diplomatic relationships — has angered China, which views the island as a province and has long sought to isolate it on the world stage.