US President Donald Trump announced that America would stop funding the World Health Organization (WHO) and accused the United Nations' Organization of mismanagement and covering up coronavirus spread when it emerged in China. This received much criticism from various quarters. China said it was seriously concerned about the issue, while the UN's chief told that this was "not the time" to cut funds to WHO.
"China is seriously concerned about the US announcement to suspend funding for the World Health Organization," said China's foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian in a press briefing, reported AFP on Wednesday.
China concerned about US decision
He said that the current situation of the coronavirus pandemic was grim and was a critical moment. The US decision would make WHO's get weakened in capacity and the act undermined the international cooperation against the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhao said.
This comes at a time where coronavirus has taken more than 127,630 lives globally, with more than 26,060 deaths in the US and counting as one reads this. More than 2,015,570 have been affected by novel coronavirus globally, among which 614,246 being the share of US, which is also the epicentre of the pandemic.
Trump's belief that WHO was biased and was leaning with China got reflected in his decision to stop funding the organization. China urged the US to "earnestly fulfil" the responsibility and obligation by supporting the WHO which leads global action against the pandemic, the spokesperson said. WHO's was an irreplaceable role, he added.
Other criticism
Adam Schiff, chairman of US House Intelligence Committee tweeted that Trump deflected the blame for his own failures to WHO. His tweet read, "After he wasted weeks calling COVID-19 as harmless as the flu. International cooperation on public health has never been more critical." Freezing funding for the World Health Organization will only make it worse." Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft tweeted that the world needed WHO now, more than ever, and no other organization could replace the UN's health Organization.
