China Urges US to ‘Fulfill Its Responsibility’ to Fund WHO

A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry has said that the United States’ decision to suspend funding to the World Health Organization amid the current pandemic could have grave implications for the rest of the world.

At a press conference Wednesday, Zhao Lijian said the U.S.’s move will weaken the WHO’s capabilities and undermine international cooperation in controlling the pandemic, affecting all countries — especially those with weaker public health infrastructures. Zhao added that China urges the U.S. to “fulfill its responsibilities and obligations” in supporting the WHO to lead international anti-pandemic efforts.

President Donald Trump had said Tuesday that the U.S. — one of the largest donors to the WHO, along with China — would stop funding the global health body while “a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

Trump’s announcement has been widely criticized by the international community. António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, which oversees the WHO, said now is “not the time to reduce resources” to the global health body. And Richard Horton, the editor-in-chief of British medical journal The Lancet, slammed Trump’s decision as “a crime against humanity (and an) appalling betrayal of global solidarity.” (Image: People Visual)