Xi supports pandemic probe

China backed an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus yesterday but insisted that the World Health Organisation be in charge of it, setting up a clash with the US over culpability in the pandemic.

President Xi Jinping gave his blessing to a WHO inquiry in an address to the organisation’s annual meeting held online, kicking off a round of unprecedentedly high-level engagement in the usually technocratic gathering.

He blew the trumpet for international co-operation and promised US$2 billion (NZ$3.3b) towards pandemic aid for the developing world, seeking to exploit the gap in global leadership left by the Trump administration after it pulled millions in funding from the WHO and accused it of ‘‘pro-China bias’’.

Xi was followed by President Emmanuel Macron of France and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. The US was represented by Alex Azar, the health secretary. President Donald Trump declined to participate.

The Chinese president said he would support a resolution put forward by Australia and the European Union calling for an international inquiry into the virus’s origins. ‘‘China supports a comprehensive evaluation of the global response to the epidemic after the global epidemic is under control, to sum up experiences and remedy deficiencies,’’ Xi said. ‘‘This work needs a scientific and professional attitude, and needs to be led by the WHO; and the principles of objectivity and fairness need to be upheld.’’

The resolution, which requires a two-thirds majority to pass, calls for ‘‘an examination of the zoonotic origins of the coronavirus’’ but does not specify who should carry it out. Britain has co-sponsored the resolution along with other countries including Russia, Canada and the members of the African Union.

The US has been keen to force China to accept explicit blame for the outbreak and it is unclear whether it will support the resolution without that specific phrasing. Azar said that the US supported an ‘‘independent review of every aspect of WHO’s response’’ and added: ‘‘We must be frank about one of the primary reasons this outbreak spun out of control. There was a failure by this organisation to obtain the information that the world needed, and that failure cost many lives.’’

Xi promised help for developing countries fighting the virus, particularly in Africa, where China has huge resource and infrastructure investments. He said there would be US$ 2 billion in aid and tie-ups between Chinese medical facilities and those in African cities. Pointedly, he said China would share and subsidise any vaccine it developed as a ‘‘global public good’’, a commitment Trump has failed to make.

Trump has launched a taxpayer-funded initiative, ‘‘Operation Warp Speed’’, to ensure the US is first to a vaccine but has made no promises about its availability to the rest of the world.

‘‘This work needs a scientific and professional attitude, and needs to be led by the WHO; and the principles of objectivity and fairness need to be upheld.’’

President Xi Jinping