Trump raises stakes with China
Says nation controls WHO, stifles Hong Kong
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Friday his administration would withdraw from the World Health Organization and move to revoke Hong Kong’s special trading status in twin decisions likely to exacerbate U.S.-China tensions.
Trump did not give a timeline or specify exactly what privileges would be yanked from Hong Kong, a global financial hub that could see its status tarnished by the move.
Trump said Hong Kong is not entitled to special treatment by the United States, because it is no longer autonomous from mainland China. He said he would direct his advisers to begin the process of eliminating the “full range” of perks that Hong Kong now enjoys, which include export controls, tariff exemptions and other benefits.
Trump also said he formally would end the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization, blasting the multilateral institution as a tool of China.
“China has total control over the World Health Organization, despite only paying $40 million per year,” Trump said, noting that the U.S. contribution to the WHO has been approximately $450 million a year.
“Chinese officials ignored their reporting obligations to the World Health Organization and pressured the World Health Organization to mislead the world,” Trump said, referring to China’s handling of the coronavirus.
Because the WHO has resisted implementing reforms that his administration sought in the wake of the pandemic, Trump said, “we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs.”
It’s not clear how that would work. For starters, Congress approves funding for WHO, and lawmakers will likely push back against Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Geneva-based organization. And even Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has conceded the WHO does vital work in eradicating polio and other diseases in a bevy of low-income countries. Other global health groups are probably not going to be able to fill that void, even with a new infusion of U.S. dollars.
Critics said Trump’s WHO announcement was yet another attempt to deflect blame from his own mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak – and one that would end up hurting the U.S.
“For the US to have one of the WORST domestic responses of any developed country in the world and then CEASE contributions to @WHO in the middle of a raging global pandemic is an embarrassment – a sign of weakness, panic, and scapegoating,” tweeted Brett McGurk, a former special State Department envoy who served under Presidents Trump, Obama and Bush. “It also endangers American citizens.”
Ben Rhodes, a former top Obama adviser, said Trump’s WHO decision would only empower China.
“Trump is so mad about Chinese influence at the WHO that he’s going to dramatically increase Chinese influence at the WHO,” Rhodes tweeted. “Makes a lot of sense in the middle of a pandemic that requires global cooperation.”
Trump’s decisions come after Xi Jinping’s government moved to impose a so-called “national security” law on Hong Kong, which critics say is aimed at snuffing out pro-democracy protests that have roiled Hong Kong for months.