Blinken and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met in Kuwait almost a week after China announced that it would not participate in the second phase of the WHO’s investigations into the virus’ origins after the health organization included the possibility that the virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China.
“Secretary Blinken affirmed U.S. support for the WHO’s plans to conduct additional studies into the COVID-19 origins, including in the People’s Republic of China, to better understand the current pandemic and prevent future ones,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. Blinken “stressed the need for the next phase to be timely, evidence-based, transparent, expert-led, and free from interference,” Price said.
The coronavirus is one of several areas of stress between China and the US. As the two seek to recalibrate and balance an increasingly fractious relationship, the Biden administration has worked to approach Beijing with a united front of allies.
On Wednesday, Blinken also “emphasized the importance of the international community coming together on this matter of critical concern and reiterated our support for a multilateral approach to global health security more broadly,” the statement continued.
For its part, Beijing said last week it would not participate in a second investigation into the pandemic’s origins and has refuted accusations that it denied WHO researchers access to locations or data during the global health organization’s first probe. Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the National Health Commission, told a July 22 press conference in Beijing he had been “surprised” to see the lab leak listed as a research objective under the second phase of the investigation.
