Johannesburg - The Summit on Covid-19 co-hosted this week by the AU and the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation ratcheted up solidarity between China and African countries, leaving the US increasingly isolated.
African countries are clearly taking a stand against unilateral moves to undermine multilateral institutions that play a critical role, especially the role of the WHO during the current global public health pandemic.One day after US President Donald Trump announced he would suspend funding to the WHO, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told G7 leaders that Germany fully supported the WHO.
China’s contribution to the WHO since 2014 has increased by 52%, and now that the US has sought to punish the WHO since the outbreak of the pandemic, China has stepped into the void and pledged $2bn to the Covid-19 response over the next two years. During the Cold War, the issue of excessive US influence over the WHO was such a sore point that the then USSR and its allies abandoned their membership of the WHO for a number of years.
In the AU-Focac Solidarity Summit that took place on Wednesday, China also took on a leadership role in assisting African countries with their current debt concerns in the context of Covid-19. Perhaps most importantly was China’s pledge to ensure that once work on a vaccine is completed, that Africa will be the first to benefit. China has said it will make vaccine development a global public good that is both affordable and accessible.