US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to permanently cut off US funding of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Donald Trump tweeted the letter he had sent to WHO Directer General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "This is the letter sent to Dr. Tedros of the World Health Organization. It is self-explanatory!" he said.
Trump in the letter said that if the WHO “does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organization permanent and reconsider our membership in the organization.”
Donald Trump also attacked the WHO, saying the UN health body was a 'puppet' of China. Donald Trump claimed that more people would have died from coronavirus in the country had he not imposed a ban on travel from China, which was 'opposed' by the health agency.
"They (WHO) are a puppet of China. They're China-centric, to put it nicer. But they're a puppet of China. I think they have done a very sad job. The United States pays them USD 450 million a year. China pays them USD 38 million a year," Trump told reporters at the White House. He also said that the World Health Organization was against the imposition of a ban on travel from China in late January.
Earlier, Donald Trump backed Australia-led calls for an independent inquiry into the WHO's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Re-tweeting a media report which mentioned several countries "backing Australia's push for a probe into the COVID-19 pandemic", the US President tweeted: "We are with them." World Health Organisation (WHO) has faced criticism globally over the handling of the pandemic.
