By Kate Kelland and and Stephanie Nebehay
FILE PHOTO: Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus at the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
(Reuters) – When the head of the World Health Organization returned from a whirlwind trip to Beijing in late January, he wanted to praise China’s leadership publicly for its initial response to the new coronavirus. Several advisers suggested he tone the message down, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
After meetings with President Xi Jinping and Chinese ministers, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was impressed by their knowledge of the new flu-like virus and their efforts to contain the disease, which by then had killed scores in China and started to spread to other countries.
The advisers encouraged Tedros to use less effusive language out of concern about how he would be perceived externally, the person familiar with the discussions said, but the director general was adamant, in part because he wanted to ensure China’s cooperation in fighting the outbreak.
“We knew how it was going to look, and he can sometimes be a bit naive about that,” the person said. “But he’s also stubborn.”
The WHO chief’s subsequent lavish public praise of China’s leadership for its efforts to combat the disease came even as evidence mounted that Chinese officials had silenced whistleblowers and suppressed information about the outbreak. His remarks prompted criticism from some member states for being over the top. U.S. President Donald Trump has led the charge, accusing the WHO of being “China-centric” and suspending American funding of the health agency.
The internal debate over the WHO’s messaging around China provides a window into the challenges facing the 72-year-old United Nations organization and its leader as they engage in battles on two key fronts: managing a deadly pandemic and coping with hostility from the United States, its largest donor.
Interviews with WHO insiders and diplomats reveal that the U.S. offensive has shaken Tedros at an already difficult time for the agency as it seeks to coordinate a global response to the pandemic. COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has killed more than 300,000 people and continues to spread. The virus is thought to have emerged in a market in Wuhan, China, that sells live animals.
Tedros is “obviously frustrated” by Trump’s move and feels the WHO is being used as a “political football,” the person familiar with the discussions said.
“We’re in the middle of the fight of our lives – all of us around the world,” said Michael Ryan, the agency’s top emergencies expert, about the challenges facing the WHO. In an interview with Reuters, Ryan said the WHO is focused on helping health systems to cope, developing vaccines and drugs, and getting economies back on track.
“That’s a big enough task to worry about for any organization,” said Ryan. “I’ve got to now deal with the potential that we’ll have a significant disruption in funding in front-line essential health services in many fragile countries in the coming months.”
“It’s bending the system,” added Ryan, an Irish doctor and epidemiologist, “but it’s not breaking it.”
The WHO said Tedros was not available for an interview. He has strongly rejected criticism that he was too quick to praise Beijing, saying China’s drastic measures slowed the virus’ spread and allowed other countries to prepare their testing kits, emergency wards and health systems. He has also said he hoped the Trump administration would reconsider its freeze, but that his main focus is on tackling the pandemic and saving lives.
Tedros knew there was a risk of upsetting China’s political rivals with his visit and his public show of support, according to the person familiar with the discussions — an account backed by a WHO official. But the agency chief saw a greater risk – in global health terms – of losing Beijing’s cooperation as the new coronavirus spread beyond its borders, the two sources said.
“That’s the calculation you make,” said the person familiar with the discussions.
During the two-day Beijing visit, Tedros secured agreement from China’s leadership to allow WHO experts and a team of international scientists to travel to China to investigate the origins of the outbreak and find out more about the virus and the disease it was causing. That delegation included two Americans.
Ryan, who accompanied the WHO chief on the trip, said he and Tedros both thought it was important to support China once they became aware of its containment plans and found them solid. The WHO’s aim was to ensure the response was implemented “as aggressively, as fast and as successfully as possible.” He added: “You want to ensure that that commitment to doing that is absolute and you want to ensure that you keep the lines of communication open if there are problems with that implementation.”
The WHO, in a follow-up statement, said it expressed appreciation to China “because they cooperated on issues we had sought support on,” including isolating the virus and sharing its genetic sequence, which enabled other countries to develop tests. At a meeting of the WHO’s executive board in early February, the agency said, “most countries overwhelmingly praised China for its response to this unprecedented outbreak.”
The Trump administration, which has come under fire at home for its own ha