-Plan to withdraw from WHO
BEIJING: China said on Monday the United States was “addicted to quitting” following a U.S. decision to leave the World Health Organization (WHO) and said the withdrawal reveals a pursuit of power politics and unilateralism.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters during a daily briefing that the international community disagreed with what he described as the selfish behaviour of the United States.
“The U.S. has become addicted to quitting groups and scrapping treaties,” said Zhao. President Donald Trump announced on Friday the United States would cut ties with the WHO, accusing the U.N. agency of becoming a puppet of China. The WHO has denied Trump’s assertions that it promoted Chinese “disinformation” about the novel coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year.
Trump’s decision follows a May 18 pledge of $2 billion by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the World Health Assembly – the WHO decision-making body – to help deal with the coronavirus and economic and social development in affected countries, especially developing countries. It was not immediately clear how much of that money would actually go to the WHO.
The EU on Saturday urged the United States to reconsider its decision. China calls on the international community to provide more political support and funding for the WHO, said Zhao.
The U.S. decision to quit the Geneva-based agency comes amid growing tension between the United States and China over the coronavirus outbreak.
Since taking office, Trump has questioned the value of the United Nations and scorned the importance of multilateralism as he focuses on an “America First” agenda. He has quit the U.N. Human Rights Council, the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO, a global accord to tackle climate change, the Iran nuclear deal and opposed a U.N. migration pact.
World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised on Monday the United States’ “immense” contribution to global health and urged a continuation of good ties despite President Donald Trump’s move to quit the U.N. body. Trump said on Friday he would cut ties with the WHO, accusing it of becoming a puppet of China during the global coronavirus crisis. Asked about health risks during protests in the United States, another WHO official, epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, told the same briefing that close contact could heighten the risk of spreading the COVID-19 disease. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday praised the United States’ “immense” and “generous” contribution to global health in a push to salvage relations after President Donald Trump said he was severing ties with the U.N. agency.
Accusing it of pandering to China and overlooking an initially secretive response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump said on Friday he was ending Washington’s relationship with the WHO. But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online media briefing he hoped his organisation could continue its longstanding collaboration with the United States. “The United States’ contribution and generosity towards global health over many decades has been immense, and it has made a great difference in public health all around the world,” he said. China has reacted furiously to Trump’s move, calling it selfish and petulant politics by a U.S. administration “addicted” to quitting international bodies and treaties. Tedros, who is Ethiopian, said he only knew about the U.S. decision from the media, with no formal communication yet from Trump’s government. He declined to answer further questions about the U.S. stance.–Agencies
