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China Calls on Int'l Community to Boost Financial Support for WHO as US Cuts Ties With Organisation

Last week, US President Donald Trump said that the United States was terminating its relationship with the WHO and redirecting funds to other global health needs.
Sputnik

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday called on nations to boost financial and political support for the World Health Organisation as the US cuts ties with the organisation.

According to ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, the US is "addicted to quitting" as the withdrawal reveals a pursuit of power politics and unilateralism.

Trump announced that the US was "terminating" its relationship with WHO on 29 May after he accused the United Nations agency of a pro-China bias.

The US decision was criticised by the international community. 

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a joint statement called on the country to review its decision to withdraw from the organisation, while the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the US decision was a blow to the international legal basis for health care cooperation.

Search for Better Alternative or Political Play? What's Behind US Decision to Cut Ties With WHO
The US was the WHO's single largest provider of funding, supplying the UN agency with between $212 and $513 million per year, giving it $453 million last year, according to administration officials.

In mid-April, the US president announced that his administration was withholding funds from the WHO until an investigation could be carried out into its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China, earlier this year - although it was later revealed that the US had already held up payments to the WHO before Trump's decision.

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