China criticises Trump's threat to withdraw from WHO

China criticised U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to withdraw from the World Health Organization, saying the U.S. attempted to shirk responsibility for failing to control the coronavirus there.

The spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry Zhao Lijian said Trump's remarks were meant "to slander China's prevention and control efforts".

Trump on Monday tweeted a letter he had sent to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Trump said that unless WHO commits to "substantive improvements over the next 30 days," he will make a temporary suspension of U.S. funding permanent.

At a daily briefing in Beijing, Zhao also tackled Taiwan after World Health Assembly agreed in a virtual meeting on Monday to delay a vote on whether to sustain observer status for the self-governing island republic that China claims as its own territory.

Taiwan agreed not to press for participation at the WHA but protested China's "two-faced behavior" that excludes it from such forums, the island foreign minister said.

Zhao urged the Democratic Progressive Party, led by independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen, to stop seeking independence.

"It is impossible to shake the one-China big picture recognised by the international community by resorting to foreign support," said Zhao.

Zhao also told media that a boy who disappeared 25 years ago after being picked by the Dalai Lama as Tibetan Buddhism's second-highest figure is now a college graduate with a stable job.

Very little information has been given about Gedhun Choekyi Nyima or his family since he went missing at age 6 shortly, after being named the 11th Panchen Lama.

Neither the now-31-year-old man or his family wish to be disturbed in their "current normal lives," Zhao said.

China, which claims that Tibet is part of its territory, named another boy for the position, Gyaltsen Norbu, who is rarely seen and is believed to spend most of his time in Beijing.

He is generally viewed as a political figure under Beijing's control and shares none of the Dalai Lama's global fame.