China was one of 12 countries recommended for the board.
QUICK FACTS:
- China now sits on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board after an election without objection.
- This came after WHO officially endorsed a number of nations to serve on their board, including China, the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and others.
- “In the General Committee’s opinion these 12 Members would provide, if elected, a balanced distribution of the Board as a whole,” a May 26 statement from the WHO said.
RESPONSE TO THE WHO’S DECISION:
- Spectator UK Columnist Ross Clark weighed in on the decision saying, “Any lingering hope that the WHO might be an organization fit to be trusted with global heath concerns has pretty well evaporated with the election, by acclamation, of China as one of the 12 members of its executive board on Friday.”
- Ross summed up the WHO’s choices, saying that the board is “stuffed with small countries, many with lousy human rights records, which will not dare to challenge China or which will not have the political clout to do so.”
- The countries recommended to the board by the WHO were: Brazil, Canada, China, Ethiopia, Maldives, Micronesia (Federated States of) Morocco, Republic of Moldova Senegal, Slovakia, United States of America, and Yemen.
BACKGROUND:
- The WHO’s influence has grown exponentially since the spread of COVID-19 beginning in late 2019 and early 2020.
- That virus is believed to have originated due to research and release or escape of the virus from a lab in the Wuhan district of China, something that the nation attempted to keep under wraps for some time.
- China has reportedly committed genocide against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang.
