Former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz argues President Trump is right to withhold funds from the World Health Organization following how it has handled coronavirus and China.
President Trump unleashed a tirade against the World Health Organization on Tuesday, accusing it of acting too slowly to sound the alarm about the coronavirus. It was not the first time in this pandemic that the global health body has faced such criticism.
Government officials, health experts and analysts have in recent weeks raised concerns about how the organization has responded to the outbreak.
In Japan, Taro Aso, the deputy prime minister and finance minister, recently noted that some people have started referring to the World Health Organization as the “Chinese Health Organization” because of what he described as its close ties to Beijing. Taiwanese officials say the W.H.O. ignored its early warnings about the virus because China refuses to allow Taiwan, a self-governing island it claims as its territory, to become a member.
Critics say the W.H.O. has been too trusting of the Chinese government, which initially tried to conceal the outbreak in Wuhan. Others have faulted the organization and its leader, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, for moving too slowly in declaring a global health emergency.
Trump also recently said , referring to China’s officially reported figures:
The numbers seem to be a little bit on the light side – and I am being nice when I say that – relative to what we witnessed and what was reported