US President Trump calls WHO 'puppet of China'; attacks Joe Biden for opposing travel ban

US President Donald Trump once again on Tuesday attacked the World Health Organisation (WHO), saying the UN health body is a 'puppet of China'. Trump claimed that more people would have died from coronavirus in the country had he not imposed a ban on travel from China, which was opposed by the health agency.

Trump said: "They (WHO) are a puppet of China. They're China-centric, to put it nicer. But they're a puppet of China.  I think they have done a very sad job. The United States pays them USD 450 million a year. China pays them USD 38 million a year. The World Health Organization was against the imposition of a ban on travel from China in late January. They were against me doing the ban. They said you don't need it, it's too much, it's too severe, and they turned out to be wrong."

Attacking Democratic Party's presidential nominee and former vice-president Joe Biden, Trump said that Biden had also opposed the ban. "Sleepy Joe Biden said the same thing. He said I was xenophobic. I was xenophobic because I said you can't come in if you come from China. You can't come into our country, very early. And Biden said I was xenophobic."

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China donates to the WHO

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping while addressing WHA on Monday said that China will provide USD 2 billion to the World Health Organization over two years to fight the coronavirus pandemic. However, the White House has said that China's newly announced funds its way to overwrite its failure in handling the coronavirus outbreak. The White House National Security Council spokesperson said that it is just a “token to distract".

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US funding to WHO halted

Donald Trump had earlier halted all fundings to the WHO accusing it to be “China-centric” in its handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. Trump had said that the WHO did not warn the world about the pandemic on time and accused China of hiding the truth. 

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The draft resolution seeking an independent investigation into the pandemic has been signed by 123 members countries of the WHO. The resolution has received overwhelming support from all the member countries of the European Union and 50 African nations. Ahead of the WHA meeting, China expectedly voiced strong objection to the resolution saying it was premature to launch a probe into the origin of COVID-19.

(with PTI inputs)

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