President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, April 22, 2020, in Washington. (ALEX BRANDON / AP)
US President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to permanently halt funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) if it did not commit to improvements within 30 days, and to reconsider his country's membership of the agency.
Trump suspended US contributions to the WHO last month, accusing it of promoting China’s “disinformation” about the coronavirus outbreak, although WHO officials denied the accusation and China said it was transparent and open
Trump suspended US contributions to the WHO last month, accusing it of promoting China’s “disinformation” about the coronavirus outbreak, although WHO officials denied the accusation and China said it was transparent and open.
ALSO READ: Xi: China to share vaccine with world
"If the WHO does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the WHO permanent and reconsider our membership," Trump told its chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a letter posted on Twitter.
Earlier, Trump said the WHO had “done a very sad job” in its handling of the virus and he would make a decision on funding soon.
Trump said in the letter the only way forward for the WHO was if it could demonstrate independence from China, adding that his administration had already started discussing reform with Tedros.
Trump also made various accusations against China in the letter. China hit back on Tuesday with its foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, saying the letter was slanderous.
“The US leadership’s open letter is filled with phrases of suggestions, maybes, and potentialities, and is trying to mislead the public through this specious method, to achieve the goal of smearing and slandering China’s efforts in epidemic prevention and to shift responsibility in its own incompetence in handling the epidemic,” Zhao told a regular briefing.
Zhao said the US decision to stop contributing to the WHO was a violation of its international obligations.
ALSO READ: Xi: China acts with 'openness, transparency, responsibility'
On Monday, the WHO said an independent review of the global virus response would begin as soon as possible and it had received backing and a hefty pledge of funds from China.
Geneva-based WHO, a UN specialized agency, is leading a global initiative to develop safe and effective vaccines, tests and drugs to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19.
More than 4.75 million people have been reported to have been infected globally and 314,414 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
The United States contributed more than US$400 million to the WHO in 2019, or roughly 15 percent of the organization’s budget.
READ MORE: Pompeo says US may never restore WHO funds after cutoff over virus
And this year, Washington has already paid the WHO about US$58 million, senior Trump administration officials said last month, half of what it is required to pay for 2020 - known as an assessed contribution.
The United States traditionally provides several hundred million dollars annually in voluntary funding tied to specific WHO programs like polio eradication, vaccine-preventable disease, HIV and hepatitis, tuberculosis, and maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.
It was not clear how much voluntary funding the United States had already provided for WHO programs in 2020.
