The World Health Organization denied that it favors China in its response to the coronavirus outbreak after President Trump accused the organization of being “China-centric.”
On Tuesday, Trump accused the WHO of tailoring its response to the coronavirus based on the whims of the Chinese Communist Party. He announced that the White House was reviewing whether aid to the organization should be cut. In response to Trump’s remarks, a senior adviser to the director-general of the organization pushed back on Trump’s claims.
“It was absolutely critical in the early part of this outbreak to have full access to everything possible, to get on the ground and work with the Chinese to understand this,” Dr. Bruce Aylward told Reuters.
He added, “This is what we did with every other hard-hit country like Spain and had nothing to do with China specifically.”
Dr. Hans Kluge, the organization’s regional director for Europe, also addressed Trump’s threat to cut aid to the organization, telling members, “We are still in the acute phase of a pandemic, so now is not the time to cut back on funding.”
The United States gave the WHO $400 million in 2019 while China gave just $44 million in its contribution. The organization has been criticized for promoting a study from the Chinese Communist Party in January that claimed the coronavirus could not spread human-to-human.
