President Donald Trump met with leaders of G7 nations Thursday and they agreed a review and reform process was necessary regarding the World Health Organization’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The announcement comes after Trump on Tuesday cut off U.S. funding to the WHO pending a review, which he said was necessary due to the organization’s “China-centric” coronavirus response. G7 nations include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“The leaders recognized that the G7 nations annually contribute more than a billion dollars to the World Health Organization, and much of the conversation centered on the lack of transparency and chronic mismanagement of the pandemic by the WHO,” the White House said in a press release regarding the meeting. (RELATED: WHO Chief Said In February Coronavirus Could Be ‘Controlled Easily’ And Praised Xi Jinping’s ‘Personal Leadership)
TAORMINA, ITALY – President Trump attends a G7 meeting. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Of other G7 nations, Japan has been particularly critical of the WHO and China on the pandemic. It has offered billions to its international companies to take their infrastructure out of China. The nation’s deputy prime minister said on April 1 the WHO should be renamed to the “CHO,” or China Health Organization.
“People think the World Health Organization should change its name,” Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said, according to translators. “It shouldn’t be called the WHO, it should be renamed the CHO.” (RELATED: Top WHO Official Won Election With China’s Help)
The WHO has for months parroted disease data coming out of China, which the U.S. intelligence community concluded to be largely falsified.
Official statistics say roughly 2,500 people died of COVID-19 during the outbreak in Wuhan, but evidence suggests the true number was over 40,000.
