China "Firmly Supports WHO"...Backing the Criticized WHO

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] Wang Yi, China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister in charge of diplomacy, firmly supported the World Health Organization (WHO), which is embroiled in conflict with the United States over responsibility for the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 19th, State Councilor Wang conveyed the message that China supports the WHO during a phone call with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus the previous day.

Wang said, "The Chinese government firmly supports the WHO. Attacks and insults against the WHO are unfounded," adding, "China wants to expand support for the WHO through various channels." He also stated, "Director-General Ghebreyesus is highly regarded by countries in the international public health emergency," and added, "Supporting the WHO at this critical time when the world is fighting COVID-19 means supporting pluralism."

Earlier, Wang also expressed support for the WHO during a call with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, saying, "Faced with the severe challenge of the epidemic, we must support multilateralism and the international community must unite to combat the epidemic. Shifting responsibility to others is irresponsible."

Wang's repeated statements supporting the WHO came amid the United States recently escalating its criticism that the WHO mishandled the COVID-19 response. On the 17th (local time), U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an interview with Fox Business, targeted China and the WHO, saying, "It is now clear that the Chinese Communist Party and the WHO did not disclose information in a timely manner," and pointed out, "The result is that we now have a pandemic."

He said, "It is their (WHO's) mission to protect the world from what is happening today. That means they must get answers and data, and they must demand it from the Chinese Communist Party." President Donald Trump, who has criticized the WHO for being biased toward China, has also ordered a halt to funding for the WHO, blaming its faulty response for the global spread of COVID-19.

According to WHO budget data for 2018?2019, the United States' contribution to the WHO was $893 million (approximately 1.0859 trillion KRW), the largest among member countries. Of this, the assessed contribution was $236.91 million (approximately 288.1 billion KRW), with an assessed contribution rate of 22%, also the highest among WHO member countries.

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