Trump Explodes at Pro-China WHO, "Considering Suspension of Funding" (Comprehensive)

First Public Criticism Since COVID-19 Crisis
Bolton: "Accomplice in Concealing Truth with China"
WHO Director-General Resignation Petition Surpasses 700,000

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a fierce attack on the World Health Organization (WHO), even threatening to consider withholding funding. This marks the first time a U.S. president has publicly criticized the WHO since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), suggesting that accumulated dissatisfaction with the WHO's actions has come to the surface all at once.

On the 7th (local time), President Trump criticized the WHO twice. On his Twitter, he pointed out, "The WHO really made mistakes. For many reasons, but especially because it receives huge funds from the U.S. while being very China-centric." He added, "Fortunately, I rejected their advice to keep the borders open to China at the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak," and questioned, "Why did they give such wrong advice?" Later that afternoon, at a White House COVID-19 task force briefing, he intensified his criticism. President Trump stated, "The WHO did not agree with the travel ban on China, and that was wrong. We will consider withholding funding to the WHO."

On the 7th (local time), U.S. President Donald Trump posted a tweet criticizing the World Health Organization (WHO) as "China centric." [Image source= President Trump's Twitter/https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump]

The core of President Trump's criticism is the WHO's pro-China stance. From the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has repeatedly made statements defending China, drawing public backlash. On January 29, he personally visited Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, afterward praising, "I was impressed by President Xi's knowledge and response regarding COVID-19 prevention. I trust China's ability to control the situation." He also stated that travel restrictions on China were unnecessary, sparking controversy over his pro-China bias. Furthermore, despite international calls to declare COVID-19 a pandemic, he drew a line by saying, "It is not yet a pandemic." It was only on the 11th of last month, after COVID-19 had spread to most parts of the world, that he declared a pandemic, which led to harsh criticism for delayed response. There are suspicions that he hesitated to declare a pandemic early on due to concerns that China would bear greater responsibility.

Criticism of the WHO's pro-China actions has already been raised in U.S. political circles. Former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton harshly criticized on Twitter, "The WHO is an accomplice with China in covering up the truth about COVID-19." Earlier, U.S. Republican Senator Martha McSally stated, "The WHO Director-General should stop defending China and resign immediately." On the U.S. online petition site Change.org, 744,100 people have signed a petition calling for the resignation of the WHO Director-General.

There are also claims that the controversy over Director-General Ghebreyesus's repeated pro-China actions was anticipated from the time he took office. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Ghebreyesus was elected Director-General in 2017 with substantial support from China, and that even before that, during his tenure as Ethiopia's Minister of Health, he was suspected of having close ties with China. During his ministerial term, Ethiopia expanded over 5,000 health infrastructures, including 3,500 health centers, with Chinese support. At the national level, Ethiopia has received $12.1 billion in investments from China since 2000 and, as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (land and maritime Silk Road) in 2016, has incurred $4 billion in debt to China.

With the Trump administration announcing plans to reduce support to the WHO, the influence of China within the WHO is likely to grow stronger. The U.S. remains the largest contributor, providing 14.67% of the WHO's total assessed contributions last year, while China accounts for only 0.21%.

According to CNN, the U.S. government budget for the 2021 fiscal year (October 1, 2020 ? September 30, 2021) allocated $58 million (approximately 7.08 billion KRW) for WHO funding, a decrease of more than 53% compared to $123 million the previous year. Meanwhile, the Chinese government signed an agreement with the WHO in 2017, pledging to invest up to 60 billion yuan (approximately 10.362 trillion KRW) over the next ten years. If China's investment materializes, there is a strong possibility that China will become the WHO's largest donor.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.