Referring to a Sankei Shimbun article, this piece examines the Trump administration’s suspension of funding to WHO, China’s use of WHO for political propaganda and evasion of responsibility, and the verification and investigation announced by President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo. It argues that those responsible for taking many lives and causing enormous economic damage must be held accountable.

April 17, 2020
After saying that “the State Department will verify and investigate what actually happened and grasp all the facts,” he declared that “we will make those who took many lives and caused enormous economic damage to the United States take responsibility.”
The following is from an article published on April 16 in the Sankei Shimbun, now the most decent newspaper in Japan, the newspaper that reports facts, under the title “Pursuing China for Politically Exploiting WHO; U.S. Administration to Verify and Investigate.”
Washington, Yoshinari Kurose.
On the 14th, the Trump administration announced the suspension of funding to the World Health Organization, WHO, Director-General Tedros.
This was an expression of its determination to strictly pursue the problem of China using WHO to conceal its initial mishandling of measures against the novel coronavirus, and to use WHO for political propaganda claiming that its infectious disease measures had produced results, while seeking to evade its “responsibility” for spreading the virus throughout the world.
At a press conference at the White House, President Trump criticized WHO, saying, “If, at the stage when the novel coronavirus emerged, WHO had sent medical experts to China and objectively investigated what was happening on the ground, while condemning China’s lack of transparency, the infection would have been contained at the place of origin, and fewer people would have died.”
He also pointed out that, despite the fact that human-to-human transmission was suspected as early as December last year, “WHO, in mid-January, acted in accordance with the wishes of the Chinese government and denied the risk of human-to-human transmission.”
He also stated that “precious time was lost because WHO was late in declaring an emergency,” and denounced the “complicity” between WHO and China by citing numerous examples.
Secretary of State Pompeo also appeared on a FOX News program on the 14th and pointed out that “what is required of WHO is to fulfill its original function of providing the world with accurate, timely, effective, and genuine public health information.”
Pompeo also stated on another radio program that, as soon as the current coronavirus crisis settles down, “the State Department will verify and investigate what actually happened and grasp all the facts,” and then declared that “we will make those who took many lives and caused enormous economic damage to the United States take responsibility.”
On the other hand, some experts have also raised questions regarding the suspension of contributions.
On the 14th, the American Medical Association stated that “international cooperation is necessary for countermeasures against a pandemic, a worldwide epidemic,” and expressed “deep concern” over the suspension of contributions.
Brett Schaefer, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, an American policy research institute familiar with United Nations agencies, said that “it is right for the United States to seek verification of WHO’s response to the novel coronavirus,” while also pointing out that “WHO is vitally important in supporting developing countries’ measures against the novel coronavirus. Now is not the time to stop funding.”
Trump has not closed the path to resuming contributions in the future, as shown by his position of determining whether WHO can move forward with reform.
However, for that to happen, from the perspective of the U.S. administration, the premise will be whether visible measures are taken to correct the present situation in which WHO has, in effect, become an outpost agency of China.
In that sense, the focus is likely to be whether a complete renewal of personnel can be achieved, including the resignation of Tedros, who has been criticized for having played the role of China’s “running dog” in the current coronavirus crisis.