Accusing WHO of 'leaning' toward China, Trump threatens to cut funding

According to Mr. Trump's explanation, this organization receives a lot of US budget money but tends to "lean" towards China. And of course, this makes Mr. Trump personally as well as the US government unhappy. Of course, the US President's statement so far is only a warning; however, it can be seen that even when the world is facing a dangerous pandemic, all fields - including health care - are being "politicized" so that all sides can threaten and bargain with each other.

Disappointment and criticism

In his latest remarks, US President Donald Trump has not spared words in criticizing the actions and statements of the World Health Organization (WHO) since the Covid-19 epidemic appeared and broke out in China until now, claiming that they were "mistakes" in handling the epidemic crisis. Most notably, Mr. Trump's accusations that, despite being funded largely by the US, the WHO has recently been "China-centric".

US President Donald Trump announced that he will withhold some funding from the World Health Organization (WHO). Photo: Reuters

The evidence that Mr. Trump gave was that the WHO seemed to be “too concerned” with China when condemning a US travel ban issued by the President on January 31. According to this ban, all foreign citizens who have been to China within 14 days from the time the order was issued are not allowed to enter the US. Furthermore, US officials have recently expressed doubts about the infection and death figures in China; claiming that the lack of transparency is the main reason why the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic has become so difficult. And of course, it is impossible not to mention the role and responsibility of the WHO in this matter.

In his speech, President Trump also mentioned twice that the US had funded the majority of the WHO budget. Accordingly, the US provided nearly 15% of the WHO's total budget in the period 2018 - 2019. Just last year 2019, the US contributed up to more than 500 million USD to WHO activities. And before that, for many years, the US was also the country that contributed the most to WHO, the average even up to 22%. The reason is that the US has paid significantly more than the actual assessed and recorded contributions. Of course, voluntary and additional contributions fluctuate depending on the level of problems, global health crises and political priorities of US Presidents.

This is not the first time President Donald Trump has expressed his lack of confidence in the World Health Organization (WHO). Right before the latest press conference, on Twitter, Mr. Trump also expressed his disappointment at why the WHO had made such wrong recommendations recently. And according to Mr. Trump, this is the reason why the Covid-19 pandemic has exploded like it is now. And before that, in February, in the budget proposals for the new fiscal year, Mr. Trump sought to cut the US contribution to the WHO in half. A recent WHO report showed that the US government expected to provide only nearly 116 million USD to this organization in the period 2020 - 2021.

WHO logo - Photo: AFP

Splashing water after rain

It is also worth mentioning that the World Health Organization (WHO) is funded not only by countries, but also by non-profit organizations, foundations, companies, universities and government alliances. Therefore, WHO has become the organization leading the global response, ensuring the maintenance of fair international health principles, so that everyone can work together to repel large-scale epidemics. However, according to experts, WHO rarely has to deal with a pandemic like Covid-19 that involves a country as large as China.

Therefore, it is difficult to avoid the fact that this organization can easily separate its decisions from the impacts and influence of Beijing. Of course, for his part, WHO Director-General Tedros recently denied that this organization is under pressure from China. However, many statements by WHO representatives in recent times have encountered much controversy and criticism.

On January 14, the WHO announced that it had found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the new virus. On January 31, the WHO also advised countries not to close their borders even though the epidemic was in the outbreak stage. If this is not “political pressure” as Director-General Tedros said, it is a manifestation of the world’s leading health organization’s professional weakness in the face of a global pandemic.

President Donald Trump said that the WHO's faulty recommendations were the reason for the current Covid-19 pandemic. In the photo: Medical staff load a COVID-19 patient into an ambulance in Washington state, USA on February 29. Photo: AFP

Whatever the reason, in recent days, public opinion has been stirred up about the ways of handling the epidemic and the controversial statements of WHO and specifically WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. An online petition calling for Mr. Tedros to resign has gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures. Along with that is the call for WHO to be a politically neutral organization!

In such a context, from the US perspective, analysts believe that President Trump's speaking out at this time has unintentionally given the US an advantage over its rival China at the present time. Although China is a global supplier of masks and medical equipment, in recent times it has faced many opinions that this country exports poor quality products. Recently, many countries such as the Netherlands, Croatia, Turkey and Spain have also complained about poor quality or defective products. The Netherlands even had to recall 600,000 substandard Chinese masks. On the other hand, Mr. Trump's harsh criticism of the WHO seems to be a way for European allies to "temporarily forget" the recent "Wild West" style mask "snatching" by the US!

In addition, President Trump's move came after a series of criticisms by US officials against the WHO in recent days. Recently, Republican senators such as Ron Johnson - Chairman of the US Senate Homeland Security Committee or Senator Jim Risch, Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have called for an independent investigation into the WHO's handling of the crisis. US Senator Martha McSally even called for WHO Director-General Tedros to resign, accusing him of helping China cover up the Covid-19 epidemic. More seriously, Senator Ted Cruz also said that the WHO is gradually becoming a "propaganda officer" of China.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 28, 2020. Photo: Getty

Therefore, in the context of Mr. Trump being "criticized" for his handling of the Covid-19 epidemic crisis, "going along with domestic lawmakers" is also a way for Mr. Trump to regain the support of voters, creating favorable conditions for the presidential election race at the end of the year. Therefore, declaring and threatening WHO is one thing, but whether or not to actually cut the budget is another. Even if Mr. Trump announced to cut funding for WHO, the American people would probably support it. Because for them, although America's global position is important, at this time, money for America to support people in the fight against the epidemic is much more important!