China is donating an additional $30 million to the World Health Organization to support its flight 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, skepticism 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.
