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Mr Trump accuses the UN agency of having an “alarming lack of self-reliance” from China.
United States President Donald Trump has sent a letter to the head of the World Health Company (WHO) threatening to pull US financing permanently over Covid-19
The letter lays out a 30- day deadline for the body to commit to “substantive improvements” or run the risk of losing millions and US membership completely.
Dealt with to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, it criticises phases of the body’s reaction because December.
Previously on Monday, Mr Trump called the UN’s health body a “puppet of China”.
The president, who faces re-election this year and has himself been criticised for his handling of the pandemic, has blamed China for trying to conceal the outbreak and has actually implicated the WHO of stopping working to hold Beijing to account.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Mr Trump was trying to misinform the general public, smear China and “shift the blame for [the US’s] own inept response”.
The US has more than 1.5 countless the world’s 4.8 million confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, with more than 90,000 deaths.
Mr Trump’s demand likewise comes at a time of pressure for the WHO.
On Monday Dr Tedros backed a review of the firm’s handling of the pandemic. He stated an independent examination would occur “at the earliest proper minute”.
What does the letter say?
Mr Trump released the letter on Twitter on Monday night, following a day of heavy US criticism of the health company.
Health Secretary Alex Azar spoke at the WHO’s World Health Assembly and implicated the organisation of letting Covid-19 spin “out of control” at the cost of “numerous lives”.
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In his letter to Dr Tedros, the United States president implicates the WHO of having an “worrying absence of self-reliance” from China.
Among his assertions, Mr Trump accuses the firm of having “regularly neglected” what he describes as “credible reports” of the infection spreading in Wuhan at the start of December or even earlier.
The US president has actually repeatedly implicated China of failings in its action to the coronavirus break out.
Beijing denies the claims. Earlier this month, the Chinese foreign ministry said the country had “all along remained in great interaction and co-operation” with the WHO and had actually “never attempted to control the organisation”.
Likewise in the letter, Mr Trump:
- Cites reports that the WHO postponed an emergency statement under pressure from President Xi Jinping
- Criticises the company’s appreciation of China’s “openness” amidst its censorship and lack of worldwide co-operation
- Implicates the WHO of failing to discuss virus-related discrimination versus Africans within China
- Says Dr Tedros could have conserved “numerous lives” if he had acted more like Dr Harlem Brundtland, the WHO chief during the Sars break out of 2003
” The only method forward for the World Health Company is if it can in fact demonstrate self-reliance from China,” his letter says.
Mr Trump then calls for the organisation to commit to “major substantive enhancements” within 30 days, without clarifying what this means.
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Mr Trump revealed the halting of United States payments last month
The president is looking for a second governmental term in November, and his attacks on China are seen as part of his re-election strategy
One WHO tweet from January quoted Chinese investigators stating there was “no clear proof of human-to-human transmission” of the virus.
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Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has protected the WHO’s actions.
Likewise at issue is a resolution which would enable poorer countries access to any coronavirus vaccines or treatments that might be developed by personal makers.
President Xi stated on Monday that any vaccine established in China would “be made a global public excellent”.
The Financial Times newspaper reports that the United States is planning to openly distance itself from some of the phrasing in the resolution.
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