US President Donald Trump has announced that he is terminating the country’s relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The president has accused the WHO of failing to hold Beijing to account over the coronavirus pandemic.
“China has total control over the World Health Organization,” the president said while announcing measures aimed at punishing Beijing.
Washington will redirect funds to other bodies, he said.
The US is the global health agency’s largest single contributor, providing more than $400m (£324m; €360m) in 2019.
Mr Trump, who is campaigning for re-election this year and has been criticised for his own handling of the pandemic, has blamed China for trying to cover up the coronavirus outbreak.
Mr Trump’s criticism of the WHO’s handling of the pandemic began last month when he threatened to permanently withdraw US funding, suggesting the UN health agency had “failed in its basic duty” in its response.
“It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organisation in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world,” he wrote in a letter to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on 18 May.
He later labelled the WHO a “puppet of China”
Source: BBC