China says US is “addicted to quitting groups and scrapping treaties.” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused the US for pursuing unilaterism.
According to a Reuters report, Zhao criticized the US after its decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO).
He said during a press briefing that the international community collectively disagrees with the move of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The U.S. has become addicted to quitting groups and scrapping treaties,” Zhao said based on the report.
Trump gave a four-page letter to the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on May 19. The letter discusses how the US would permanently halt its funding of the WHO and rethink its membership if the global health body did “not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days”.
“We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engage with them directly, but they have refused to act because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms,” Trump said during a speech in the White House Rose Garden.
“We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organisation and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs," he added.
WHO's reaction
Meanwhile, the WHO did not agree with Trump’s claim that the organization promoted so-called “disinformation” about the coronavirus outbreak.
WHO also finds the withdrawal of membership in the midst of a pandemic as “disappointing” and “inexplicable.”
The European Union called on the US to rethink its position. They say the participation of members in the health agency is required and “very much needed.”
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, over 6.1 million people worldwide have been hit by Covid-19, with 372,479 deaths.
The U.S. remains to have the highest number of Covid-19 infections around the world, exceeding the milestone of 100,000 deaths last week.
“It was never about reforming the WHO. That was all lies,” the Democratic senator Chris Murphy, said on Twitter. “It was always about distraction and scapegoating. Leaving castrates our ability to stop future pandemics and elevates China as the world’s go-to power on global health. What a nightmare.”
Amanda Glassman, the executive-vice president of the Centre for Global Development, said that the US had broad ties to the WHO. She noted that the move of the US could affect its influence on global health research and policymaking.
“We have very deep and long relationships with the WHO as the space where we coordinate global health policy,” Glassman said. “I think it’s totally inefficient to do it in a bilateral manner.”
Meanwhile, Beth Cameron, a biologist and former senior official in the national security council said on Twitter: “There aren’t words for how much this decision will hurt the US, our global partners, and our ability to to impact the #COVID19 pandemic that is a threat to our national and global peace and security.”
Agreements pulled out
Trump repeatedly lambasted how WHO responded to the coronavirus pandemic. Since he was elected president, Trump emphasized the need for the government to observe the “America First” principle.
He cancelled an international pact that discusses the climate emergency, the cultural agency UNESCO, the Iran nuclear deal, the Open Skies Treaty and the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces, or INF, the UN Human Rights Council, and Treaty with Russia.
