Source:
https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3079309/coronavirus-us-senate-foreign-relations United States & Canada
Coronavirus: US Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee calls for WHO chief to testify
- Lawmaker Todd Young says World Health Organisation ‘gave sanction’ to ‘ham-fisted’ Chinese response to outbreak
- WHO has been facing fierce criticism from Trump and Senate Republicans over handling of pandemic
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the coronavirus in Geneva, Switzerland in February. Photo: Reuters
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Marianne Levine on politico.com on April 9, 2020.
US Senator Todd Young is calling on World Health Organisation Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to appear before a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee to answer questions about the organisation’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The WHO in recent days has faced heated criticism from Senate Republicans and President Donald Trump, who argue the organisation did not do enough to scrutinise China’s response to the outbreak.
“It has given sanction to the ham-fisted response of the Chinese and the misinformation perpetuated by the Chinese,” Young said in an interview. “On all fronts I’ve been not just unimpressed but outraged by the responsiveness and the performance of the World Health Organisation.”
In his letter to Tedros, Young criticised the WHO for praising China’s initial response to the coronavirus and for relying on data from the Chinese government.
“The Chinese government’s systematic failure, a failure verified by our intelligence community, to accurately report the number of cases is damaging our epidemiological knowledge of Covid-19,” the Indiana Republican wrote. “Rather than publicly and forcefully combat this obstruction, the WHO has assisted.”
Young called on Tedros to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations’ Subcommittee on Multilateral Institutions for a hearing on how US federal dollars may go to the WHO in the future.
Young, in the interview, said he was optimistic Tedros would appear before the committee given that the United States is the organisation’s largest contributor country.
The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Young’s letter comes after Trump said this week at a press conference that the United States would “put a hold on money spent to the WHO”. However, he quickly walked that statement back, saying he was “looking into it”.
US Senator Todd Young leaves the room during a Senate Republican lunch on Capitol Hill in March. Photo: AFP
The Indiana Republican joins a chorus of criticism among Senate Republicans of the WHO. Senator Rick Scott has called for a congressional inquiry into WHO’s response and suggested the United States should cut off funding. Meanwhile, Senator Martha McSally has called for Tedros to resign.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, appeared resistant to that idea on Wednesday.
“This is not the time to be doing that kind of change,” Pompeo said. “There'll be a lot of time to look back and see how the World Health Organisation performed.”
Tedros continues to defend the WHO’s handling of the pandemic and said this week that he believes the United States will continue to contribute its share of money.