China to give WHO $30
million more after US freezes funds
Beiyi SEOW
April 23, 2020, 11:57 AM GMT+2
The coronavirus pandemic,
combined with the halt in US funding, marks the biggest challenge to date for
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
The coronavirus pandemic,
combined with the halt in US funding, marks the biggest challenge to date for
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (AFP Photo/Fabrice
COFFRINI)
China announced Thursday it will give another $30 million to
the World Health Organization to help in the global fight against the
coronavirus pandemic, days after Washington said it would freeze funding.
The US, which is the WHO's
biggest contributor, accused the organisation last week of
"mismanaging" the COVID-19 crisis, drawing ire from Beijing as both
countries spar over the deadly virus.
Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the new donation
would be in addition to a previous $20 million committed, and would help
"strengthen developing countries' health systems".
He added that China's contribution to the UN agency
"reflects the support and trust of the Chinese government and people for
the WHO".
In announcing the funding freeze last week, US President
Donald Trump accused the WHO of covering up the seriousness of
the coronavirus outbreak in China before it spread.
He has also charged the WHO
with being "very China-centric" despite Washington's heavy funding.
According to Trump, US taxpayers provided between
$400 million and $500 million per year to the WHO, while "in contrast,
China contributes roughly $40 million a year and even less".
Trump also claimed the outbreak
could have been contained with "very little death" had the WHO
assessed the situation in China accurately.
The deadly virus, which has
claimed more than 181,000 lives worldwide, first emerged in the central Chinese
city of Wuhan, which was locked down in late January to curb the spread.
It continued its global march,
however, with cases reported in 193 countries and territories to date, ravaging
economies around the globe.
Beijing has urged the US to support WHO-led international
action against the pandemic after it halted funding, while observers warned
that the US freeze would have consequences for the WHO's other disease control
programmes around the world.
- China defends WHO -
China has denied Western suggestions that it covered up the
extent of the virus outbreak, rejecting claims it has an overly cosy relationship with the WHO
as well.
But local authorities did silence doctors who tried to raise
the alarm about the virus in Wuhan in December.
An investigation determined
that police "inappropriately" punished one of the whistleblowers, Li
Wenliang, an eye doctor who later died of the COVID-19 disease.
The WHO, under the leadership
of Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has been accused by Washington of
uncritically accepting China's early assertions that the virus was not spread
between humans, and of wrongly praising Beijing's "transparency" over
the magnitude of the crisis.
The pandemic, combined with the
threat of a halt in US funding, marks the biggest challenge to date in Tedros'
near three-year tenure.
"Supporting the WHO at
this critical time in the global fight against the epidemic is defending the
ideals and principles of multilateralism and upholding the status and authority
of the United
Nations,"
Geng said.
The US is the country worst-hit
by the coronavirus, with a death toll of around 46,000.
Numbers in China have dwindled
as it begins to cautiously lift virus control measures, although fears remain
over a potential resurgence and imported infections from abroad.
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