Politics this week

At the World Health Organisation’s annual summit (held remotely), China accepted an Australian-led motion calling for an inquiry into the origins of covid-19. This marked a climbdown by the Chinese government in the face of widespread demands for such a probe. Earlier, Donald Trump once again threatened to pull America out of the WHO unless it took unspecified steps to show “independence from China”. Despite its success in tackling the coronavirus, Taiwan was not invited to this year’s meeting.