Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus held a regular press conference on the COVID-19 on February 17, 2020, at which he said that the newly released epidemiological report by Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention provided assistance for the WHO to give suggestions on epidemic prevention and control to other countries in the world. Photo by Xinhua reporter Chen Junxia

 "Where does the US get the nerve to replace an international organization like the World Health Organization?" experts slammed US officials' remarks on having a review of the WHO's work amid the coronavirus pandemic and its attempt to find "an alternative" to carry out its work in public health. 

Experts said that the unilateral move of the US serves nothing but to interrupt global efforts to contain COVID-19 pandemic without making any contribution, and the US should stop stirring up trouble. 

Against the backdrop of more than 842,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported as of press time on Thursday in the US, some US officials insist on criticizing the WHO and China, including John Barsa, head of the US Agency for International Development and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Barsa said on Wednesday that the US will assess if the WHO is running properly. Washington will also look for alternative partners outside the WHO to carry out "important work" such as on vaccines. He told reporters the review would include how the WHO has held "member states accountable" for their actions, Reuters reported. 

Echoing Barsa's calls, Pompeo told a press briefing on the same day that the US "strongly believed" Beijing has "failed to report" the outbreak of the COVID-19 in a timely manner, and is in breach of WHO rules.

US officials and politicians' baseless criticism against China and the WHO are still aimed at shifting the blame as the epidemic situation has become severer in the US while the US presidential election draws near, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the Global Times on Thursday.

He said that the plan to review the WHO's work also shows the US' long term arrogance - "I rule the world and whoever goes against me will be 'investigated' or 'punished.'" Given Trump administration's evident bias and mistrust of the WHO, the review on the WHO's work concocted by the US has no objectivity or fairness, nor can it prove anything, Xin noted. 

No longer influential 

Where does the US get the nerve to think it has the capability and influence to find or set a US-centered alternative for the WHO considering the terrible performance of the US in dealing with its domestic epidemic, experts asked. 

US unilateralism and an "America First" mentality has repeatedly damaged multilateralism that guaranteed international cooperation since the Trump administration took power, and if the US tries to withdraw from the WHO and establish a new US-led organization for global public health, the consequences would be horrific, said Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing on Thursday.

"Because in the future, if any new pandemic occurs, whether in the US or in any other countries, the information sharing among certain countries may result in contradictory advice from different organizations, potentially confusing the world, and this would constitute a problem," he noted.

Diao Daming, a US studies expert with the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday that the recent US move against the WHO is terrible and irresponsible. "Hopefully, no country would follow such horrible, stupid and self-deceiving behavior."

"The US' unilateral behavior in the past few years has already shown the world that we can't rely on the US in any global crisis or challenge," neither climate change nor nuclear proliferation, and also not the pandemic, and "if US leaders don't want to help, that's fine, but they should not create trouble for the world," Diao said.

US President Donald Trump announced a halt to US funding for the Geneva-based WHO last week, which incurred domestic and global criticism and experts said the revision of the WHO's work and attempt to find an alternative may imply the US is withdrawing from international organizations or it's a trick from Trump to pressure the WHO for a bigger say in how the organization operates. 

"This is not the first time the US has 'withdrawn' from international organizations which the US thinks cannot speak for it and its allies, or no longer serve US national interests. For example, it withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council in June 2018," Sun Chenghao, an assistant research fellow with the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The US may think this is a good time to retreat from the WHO amid the global pandemic but the move only further exposes its selfishness in putting "America First" in front of the international community as well as its allies in Europe, Sun noted.

Experts also expressed concerns of US financial donations which may be given to the WHO to advance its own ideology and spread propaganda worldwide. 

Jim Richardson, USAID's director of foreign assistance, was quoted by Reuters as saying that "for ... every dollar flowing today, we're just taking the WHO off the table and we are going to provide that assistance" to other groups.

USAID, the key US government agency that administers foreign aid, has long been criticized for supporting groups aligned with US interests and ideology. According to the Reuters, in 2017, Trump reinstated a policy requiring foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive US family planning funds to certify they do not provide abortions or give abortion advice.

USAID also states on its website that its purpose is to "further America's interests while improving lives in the developing world."

According to a report from Quartz, a business-focused English-language international news organization, in April 2014, USAID funneled money to Cuba to start a social media program bent on spreading political content and eventually overthrowing Fidel Castro. Money from the organization has been used as a vehicle to further US foreign policy.

A citizen runs in front of the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, on Oct. 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

A pawn for the US

The US may leave room for Taiwan to join if it creates a US-led alternative for the WHO as the island has been working hard in recent days to slander the Chinese mainland and attack the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

In a trade for US support of Taiwan, Taiwan will give its full support for the US move on finding or creating an alternative for the WHO by offering money and other resources with its limited ability, Xin said, noting that however, Taiwan may not get what it wants as the US currently has no intention to totally challenge the one-China principle. 

Chiu Yi, a former Kuomintang legislator in Taiwan, told the Global Times that the US has always treated Taiwan as a pawn to contain China. "It will never declare Taiwan a country." The US will leave some space to discuss whether Taiwan can enter the new organ designed for public health to stimulate Taiwan to work harder to cooperate with US interests.

Trump needs a right hand man if he wants to win the election - for example, he needs Taiwan to do the "dirty work," including speaking negatively about the general director of the WHO or spreading conspiracy theories about China creating the virus, Chiu said. 

Support for the WHO

Contrary to the US, many countries and politicians in the world still show support for the WHO. The US found itself isolated among western leaders at a virtual G7 summit on April 16, as they expressed strong support for the WHO after the US announced suspension of funding, the Guardian reported.

Geng Shuang, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a press conference on Thursday that China will donate another $30 million to the WHO in supporting the prevention work of COVID-19 and the construction of public health systems in developing countries. China already donated $20 million to the international organ previously. 

Supporting the WHO is designed to safeguard the principles of multilateralism as it's a crucial time in battling COVID-19. China's donations to the WHO demonstrate the Chinese government and its people's support of and trust in the international organization. China is willing to work together with the international community in fighting against the coronavirus, safeguard regional and international public health safety and build the community with a shared future for mankind, Geng said.