ASEAN official: Politicization no good for saving lives

Sending letters to the WHO director-general and issuing statements, around 70 countries have objected to the politicizing of COVID-19 origin-tracing and underscored their support for the WHO report on the virus, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

Kung Phoak, deputy secretary-general of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, said, "Much more politicized and stigmatized are the discourses on the origin of COVID-19, giving rise to hate crimes."

In a recently published opinion piece, the ASEAN official said "China has been cooperating with various countries and international organizations, such as the WHO, to address this pandemic", and he warned that "any politicization will undermine the whole purpose of saving all lives".