The Chinese government announced that it would donate $30 million to the World Health Organization, in order to make up for the United States’ withdrawal of federal funding for the organization, according to the Daily Caller.
The announcement comes from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which tweeted that “at this crucial moment, supporting WHO is supporting multilateralism and global solidarity.”
Adding to a previous donation of $20 million in early March, China has now given $50 million to the WHO in the last two months. A Chinese spokesman, Geng Shuang, falsely claimed that “WHO, under the leadership of Director General [Tedros Adhanom] Ghebreyesus, has actively fulfilled its responsibilities and upholds an objective, fair, and scientific standpoint.”
The WHO, and its Director General, has come under heavy criticism for its mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak. In the early days of the outbreak in China, the WHO’s official Twitter account tweeted false information relayed to it by the Chinese government, claiming that the coronavirus was not contagious.
Director General Ghebreyesus has also come under scrutiny for his close ties to the Chinese government, and has faced widespread calls to step down. The WHO has also been found to have spent far more money on its travel budget than on its medical program.
As a result, President Donald Trump ultimately announced earlier this month that the United States would sever all federal funding to the WHO, redirecting those funds to more effective charities, including the Red Cross and Samaritan’s Purse.