(1/X) Lots of talk about this, so I’m starting a thread on @WHO's actions that appeared to help China downplay the outbreak & as a result delay international response. Make your own judgment as to whether WHO has put politics before public health.
nytimes.com/2020/04/08/wor… (2/X) WHO Director-General Tedros has repeatedly praised China’s “transparency” & speedy action in dealing with the virus while saying nothing abt Beijing’s suppression of information, or its punishment of whistleblowers who tried to warn about the virus.
washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pac…

(1/X) I’m starting a thread about China’s influence over @WHO. How’s this influence exercised? Here’s an article rightly suggesting that China’s influence isn't based on its financial contribution to WHO, which is relatively paltry (surprise, surprise!).
institutmontaigne.org/en/blog/fighti… (2/X) So how? I think the answer lies in the group dynamics of WHO members, which in turn influence the WHO leadership. In WHO’s 2017 election of Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was backed by the global south as well as China, which often poses itself as...

(1/X) @WHO just issued a presser abt Bruce Aylward's @rthk_enews's interview, trying to explain away this PR catastrophe. @WHO claims it's closely working with Taiwan experts. It's NOT true, as demonstrated by the current real-life challenges arising from Taiwan’s exclusion. (2/X) Plenty of examples of Taiwan's difficulties in contributing to global solutions. For one, last December 31, the TW gov't wrote to @WHO expressing concerns about human-to-human transmission @ asking for more information. Its request was ignored.