US Slams WHO For Being “China-Centric”, Ignoring Early Warning Of Taiwan
US SLAMS WHO – The United States accused the World Health Organization (WHO) of prioritizing politics instead of heading Taiwan’s warning.
United States President Donald Trump was on the offensive against the UN body. This time, he threatened to cut funding from the organization leading the fight against COVID-19.
Previously, several international officials have heavily criticized WHO for delays on information on COVID-19. Additionally, they accused the organization of coercing with China.
According to a report from International Business Times, Donald Trump had already cut America’s contribution to WHO by half. Meanwhile, the US State Department said who purposely delayed raising the alarm over COVID-19.
Furthermore, the State body emphasized how WHO showed deference to China. Along with this, the State Department also raised questions as to why it ignored Taiwan’s warnings regarding the virus.
As per the report, the State Department said:
The United States is deeply disturbed that Taiwan’s information was withheld from the global health community, as reflected in the WHO’s Jan 14, 2020 statement that there was no indication of human-to-human transmission
They added the WHO once again prioritized politics over public health. Moreover, WHO had denied Taiwan’s observer status since 2016, a privilege granted by the organization to non-members allowing them to participate in its activities.
TAIWAN WARNED WHO
Despite being at such close proximity to China, Taiwan had successfully prevented a large-scale outbreak. Additionally, they had already warned WHO on December 31 that they found evidence of human-human transmissions.
Taiwan’s vice-president Chen Chien-Jen said that Taiwanese doctors received reports from colleagues in Wuhan being ill. Afterward, they reported their findings to the International Health Regulations (IHR), a platform of WHO for exhanges in epidecmic prevention and response data from 196 countries.
However, WHO ignored Taiwan’s report. Instead, when asked about reports on human-human transmissions, WHO stated that “there was no clear evidence” for this yet.
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