China criticises Trump’s move to pull WHO funding

Bloomberg

China criticised US President Donald Trump’s move to temporarily halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) and pledged to support the global health body.
Trump said he ordered the move against the WHO because it took China’s claims about the coronavirus “at face value” and failed to share information about the pandemic as it spread. China has “serious concerns” about the decision and called on the US to fulfill its responsibilities, foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said .
“This US decision will weaken the WHO’s capabilities and undermine international cooperation,” Zhao said, adding: “China will as always support the WHO in playing an important role in international public health and global anti-epidemic response.”
The move to limit support to the WHO in the midst of a global pandemic is unprecedented, and attracted criticism from health policy experts as well as billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates. Yet as domestic criticism of the Trump administration’s response has increased and the US became the epicenter of the outbreak, many of the president’s supporters have pointed to the WHO for making early mistakes they say worsened the crisis.
“The WHO failed in its basic duty and must be held accountable,” Trump said at a White House press conference. “The outbreak could have been contained at its source” if the organisation had correctly responded early on, he added.
The Associated Press reported that it obtained internal documents showing Chinese officials waited six days in January before President Xi Jinping warned the public of the dangers of the coronavirus outbreak.