China is donating an additional $30 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, according to a tweet from China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying Thursday.
“China has decided to donate additional $30 million in cash to WHO to support its global fight against #COVID19, in particular strengthening developing countries’ health systems,” Chunying said on Twitter. She added that China had previously donated $20 million to the WHO on March 11.
Last week, US President Trump announced he is halting funding to the WHO, saying it’s been a “role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of coronavirus.”
China contributed close to $86 million in assessed and voluntary contributions in the two-year funding cycle from 2018 to 2019. Recently, scepticism has been aimed toward the WHO’s relationship with China as critics have questioned whether the WHO is independent enough, pointing to the WHO’s effusive praise of China’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
WHO is “indispensable partner” in coronavirus fight – Merkel
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is an “indispensable partner” in the fight against coronavirus and Germany supports its mandate, the country’s Chancellor Angela Merkel says.
Her comments put her at odds with US President Donald Trump, who has suspended funding for the international body and accused it of “severely mismanaging” the pandemic.
In an address to the German parliament, Merkel said international cooperation was “extremely important” to defeat the outbreak.
At a European level, Merkel says she will work with other leaders to ensure there is a rapid response to the changing situation, adding that Germany ought to be prepared to pay more into the EU budget.
“Our consultations today won’t yet be about nailing down details or deciding on the extent but one thing is already clear: in the spirit of solidarity, we should be prepared – over a limited period of time – to make… much higher contributions to the EU budget,” she said.
