US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to permanently stop funding of the World Health Organization (WHO) if the body does not commit to "major substantive improvements" in the next 30 days.
The president shared a four-page letter written to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to Twitter, reconsidering membership of the United States in the body.
In a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Trump said, "It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world. The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can demonstrate independence from China."
"My administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organization. But action is needed quickly. We do not have time to waste."
He also says, '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 WHO permanent and reconsider our membership in the organization.'
The threat came on the same day the WHO bowed to calls from most of its member states to launch an independent probe into how it managed the international response to the coronavirus. Chinese President Xi Jinping also announced China would provide $2 billion to help respond to the outbreak and its economic fallout.
Xi said China supports the idea of a comprehensive review of the global response to COVID-19 and that it should be 'based on science and professionalism led by WHO, and conducted in an objective and impartial manner'.
The letter on official White House letterhead, screenshots of which were posted to Twitter, comes after Trump temporarily halted funding to the organization last month.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1262577580718395393
