US President Donald Trump has threatened to cut funding to the World Health Organization, which he described as a "puppet of China", unless there were improvements within 30 days, and to reconsider the United States' membership in it, while the European Union and Russia announced their support for the organization.
Trump suspended his country's contributions to the organization last month, accusing it of promoting "misleading" Chinese information about the Corona virus outbreak, although the organization's officials denied the charge, and China said it was transparent and open.
Trump wrote a message on Twitter to the Director-General of the Health Organization, Tedros Adhanum Gebresus, the day before yesterday, saying, "If the WHO does not undertake substantial improvements during the next 30 days, I will always make my temporary freeze on US funding for the organization, and I will review our membership." .
Earlier yesterday, Trump launched a violent attack on the World Health Organization, describing it as a "puppet of China", and assured that he would soon make a final decision on the fate of US funding for the United Nations.
"I am not happy with the World Health Organization," Trump told reporters at the White House. "It is a puppet of China."
In response to a question about the fate of the American financial contribution to the organization, which annually amounts to about 450 million dollars, which Trump announced in mid-April, his intention to stop it, the American president did not give a definite answer, saying, "We will make a decision soon."
Trump had previously said that the handling of the virus crisis by the World Health Organization was "very unfortunate" and that he would soon make a decision on US funding.
In his message, the US President said that the only way for the organization to be independent from China, adding that his administration has already begun discussions with Tedros on reform.
Trump also made several accusations against China in the letter, including that it had attempted to withhold evidence of human-to-human transmission, pressured the World Health Organization not to declare the outbreak of an emergency, refused to share data and samples, and did not allow its scientists to be interviewed and access its facilities.
China replied, yesterday, by its Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Legian, that the message was full of slander.
"The open message from the US leadership is full of phrases filled with allusions, speculations and possibilities," Zhao said during a regular briefing.
He added that the US decision to stop contributing to the World Health Organization is a violation of its international obligations.
He accused Washington of trying to "use China as a means of evading responsibility and compromising its international obligations towards the World Health Organization." "This is an incalculable move, and the United States chose the wrong target," he said.
The organization said, the day before yesterday, that an independent review of the global approach to the virus would start as soon as possible, and that it had received strong support and pledge of funding from China, which was under the spotlight because the beginning of the epidemic was in it.
"This is a time to show solidarity instead of pointing fingers or undermining multilateral cooperation," European Commission spokeswoman Virginia Patou said in response to a question about Trump's recent statements about the WHO. "The European Union supports international cooperation during this crisis," she added, noting that "multilateral efforts are the only viable options to win this battle."
In Moscow, the President of the Russian Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, expressed her country's support for the World Health Organization and China, where she said in an interview with the Russian "Interfax" agency, published yesterday, that "Russia opposes such fabricated investigations and unfounded accusations. We are definitely against it. ”
Matviyenko, who described the World Health Organization as one of the most important bodies of the United Nations, stressed that the time is certainly not right now "to start a trial trial" as the world fights against the Corona virus.
"Of course, there is no reason today to conduct a show trial or some kind of investigation to destroy this useful thing (WHO) that humanity has been developing for decades," Matviyenko added.
Beijing accuses Washington of trying to "use China as a means of evading responsibility and compromising its international obligations towards the World Health Organization."