it's one of the quandaries an organization like the w.h.o. faces because it doesn't have all the same sort of leverage you know it's it can't sanction states it can't threaten to invade say to doesn't have those sorts of tools of diplomacy so what it can do is it can think we could name and shame that state we could publicly call it out and chastise it or we could try to have a more coopted relationship and when you've got a country where a pandemic seems to be starting i think that the calculation of the w.h.o. made was it's probably going to be to our advantage we're probably going to get more and better information from the chinese government if we are working with them if we are trying to provide a tool and so i so i completely understand the criticism i just don't know that given the structures of the w.h.o. and the powers that the member states have given to the dead i don't know how much more it was going to be able to force china to do anything and to take other sorts of actions would you want to see a more assertive w.h.o. do you do y

the w.h.o. today agreed to conduct an independent review of basically itself and the things that it did during the beginning of this pandemic do you trust the w.h.o. to be able to carry out an impartial investigation into its own work. i think it is the. national organization 1st of all and i trust the w.h.o. that they could actually review their handling of what can be done better but on the other side also all countries have to ask their questions how did they handle this epidemic in their own given country was a public health system up to the problems of 19 and i would say even the information that we received last year for the g.p.m. beat was very clear cut and they said we are not prepared for a pandemic and that $900.00 x. a give us the proof that we were as a world as a global society not prepared for this. and now is the time not only to reform the w.h.o. but we have to review the international health regulations need urgent implementation and improvement for the future the criticism has

the w.h.o. and china has continued into a 2nd day after the us president's public letter threatening to leave the permanently on monday very detailed long letter but basically they have to clean up their act they have to do a better job they have to be much more fair to other countries including the united states so we're not going to be involved in the other server. president trump posted the open letter on twitter stating that. if the w. does not commit to major substantial improvements within the next 30 days i will make my temporary freeze of united states funding to the world health organization permanent and reconsider our membership in the organization. china's foreign ministry criticized the u.s. president's threats. the letter tried to mislead the public in this plausible way to slander china's prevention and control efforts and shock the u.s. has responsibility for incompetence in its own prevention and control this is futile. believe the movie. other. member states agreed to a comprehe

does ant work and the w.h.o. is not solely responsible for the pandemic outbreak, but we have to take a cold look at the numbers and realize of the u.s. contribution in 2018, 2019 to the w.h.o., on1.6% of our contribution went to pandemic preparedness and response. the notion that somehow the organization is going e crippled because the u.s. takes a pause looking at how it wants to fund an pentially form t organization, in my mind, is a red herring. we need to continue to ensure the organization does what it's able to do best bu that doesn't mean continuing status quo. as secretary pompeo noted in the opening piece, the u.s. is going to find a way to ensure critical needs are funded, but the idea that somehow pandemic response is going to be curbed or shut down haze because the u.s. takes a hold on funding is untrue gin the numbers and actual contribution we make to the zaga.tini ep dr. michael merson, thank you very much. >> thank you. in night's brief but spectacular, author and former hindu monk jay shetty has

the u.s. withdrawal from might encourage other countries to place pressure on other w.h.o. and the chinese government and make their behavior more up and demick oriented ok so we have accusations coming from china excuse me coming from the i think states and from others that china is behind this pandemic let's let's stay with this accusation that the w.h.o. is china's century where's the evidence well let's look at it let's look at the hand of it dr tender skin breezy is i was former health minister a member of an oppressive regime government in ethiopia and was handpicked and lobbied for extensively by beijing for the world health organization top job incidentally he was the only head of the world health organization to not meet be a medical doctor he was china's pick he's not even a doctor he has consistently praised china and been reluctant to criticize china not only in terms of the origins of the pandemic but its handling of the data and its truthfulness to the rest of the world in lobbying for adult to his appointments so that today. the china do anything that the u.s.

and now is the time not only to reform the w.h.o. but we have to review the international health regulations need urgent implementation and improvement for the future the criticism has been that the w.h.o. many times has been too lenient with china in order to keep china happy and also to keep that funding coming how do you see that as a doctor do you see the rules being bent for china. when i see is that the w.h.o. is being a puppet many nations would agree to that point i think it's not appropriate that china says that taiwan cannot participate in w.h.o. i also would say it's not appropriate of the united states to say that the w.h.o. is not doing the work that's why you are not working together with him anymore i think we have to realize that health is a global issue it's for every person on this globe and we have to understand with global health and the security of global health actually is important for every nation in this world and house of understand out infectious diseases doesn't recognize borders and we have to really get o

the w.h.o. doesn't seem to be interested in taiwan's approach. the organization blocked taiwan from taking part in its annual meeting several years ago under pressure from beijing. that has deprived the island to access about crucial information about the virus. >> we were successful, yes. but without that platform, it was very hard. like we e don't haveve few case treatment, protocols for serious caseses are in taiaiwan. we neeeed to stop this politica rhetoric.. we need too hold onto the more important issues like health of everyone involved. reporterer: dr. l inch u used t be a delegate of the w.h.o., but that ended obey jing's be left when taiwan's president of the pro-independence party took office four years ago. and says they have no right to w.h.o. membership. >> politics should be set aside when it comes to healtlth issue good for taiaiwan to share its experience. reporter: taiwan made a contribution to public health and unfair to be excluluded. taiwan has maintained its infection rate with zero domestic infections for over a month. even

so what was the criticism of w.h.o. world the criticism was it seemed that every day nearly margaret chan who's there and director general don't do it joe that afternoon ounce the new alert level. does depend demick was spreading and it was widely seen that using that alert level really. made the public fearful panicked and alarmed and that was unnecessary and having declared a pandemic early the division was criticized for a variety of things claimed by every now and a german scientist that vaccine manufacturers pressured the world health organization into declaring a swine flu pandemic seeking to increase profits and whether or not that was fair i think you see the leadership becoming a bit more tentative looking at it and saying wait we did the thing we're supposed to do and we got we got criticized for it and we got run through the wringer in the media and so maybe we should be more careful in the future when the w.h.o. declares a pandemic not only does a risk inducing a panic but it can also be devastating to the gl

president threatens the w.h.o. with his country's problems with drop unless the u.n. body makes changes within the next 30 days describing it as a puppet of china also on the program. scientists in south africa were coming out to improve contact tracing as the country braces to contain the coronavirus. germany's top court television service it says spies must not indiscriminately tap into the traffic of foreigners abroad the ruling comes at a cost does that really cover the cost of protecting the stepped. on blocks of your own bassier back in team training european football leagues or edging towards a resumption following the bluntest league has returned to take a look at when and. i will go welcome to the program u.s. president donald trump has threatened to withdraw the united states from the world health organization and permanently and u.s. funding and i letter to the un body bodies director general mr trump demanded changes based on his criticisms within 30 days uses the organization of mishandling the global corona. this response of being a puppet of china china

the w.h.o. failing together and share information and demanding changes in the next 30 days. he reported -- repeated his charge that they have been too soft on china where the virus originated. the w.h.o. has responded saying it is considering the contents of the letter. china had stronger words for the president. >> the u.s. tries to use china as an issue to shirk responsibility and bargain over its international obligations to the w.h.o.. this is a miscalculation in the u.s. has picked wrong target. babita: donald trump's four-page letter laid out thevidence of the probe the administration carried out a we have heard some of the allegations from the president before. this is a regular theme of his. the w.h.o. failed to share information in a timely and transparent fashion, while unpacking all of that is chris morris from the bbc's reality check team. >> the w.h.o. says it was informed by china of a pneumonia of unknown cse last year. within a few days they put out an official statement asking

have criticised the w.h.o. for mistakes made back in january and february as president trump has suspended u.s. funding for the organization accusing it of being too lenient on china where the virus was 1st detected covert 19 is tragically taken hundreds of thousands of lives impacted millions of people and a deep damage to the world economy. we must be frank about one of the primary reasons this outbreak spun out of control there was a failure by this organization to obtain the information that the world needed and that failure cost many lives in an apparent attempt to conceal this outbreak at least one member state made a mockery of their transparency obligations with tremendous cost for the entire world we saw that w. 2 failed at its core mission of information sharing and transparency when member states do not act in good faith this cannot ever happen again well more now i'm joined by dr margaret harris from the world health organization in geneva the doctors it's good to see you again we've got one $120.00

criticism from the ministration aimed at the world health organization white house officials say the w.h.o. well. over $100.00 countries are backing an investigation into. the pandemic 1st weeks i'll ask. what she thinks and homeless people in the u.s. . activists say the resources are there to help get them off the streets and to reduce the risk so why is it more being done. star of the stage and silver screen passed away at the age of 94. i'm boring. to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome half a trillion euros to help europe weather the worst crisis in decades german chancellor angela merkel and french president emmanuel have outlined a joint plan to speed europe's recovery from the pandemic it calls for a rescue fund to boost hard hit sectors of the economy and in the 1st chancellor merkel ended her longstanding resistance to the european union raising joint debt to fund relief efforts. it's wishful thinking to hope europe's economies could bounce back as easily as these provisions after months under lockdown even before the e.u. commission presen

would you say that taiwan not being a member of the w.h.o. puts lives at risk in taiwan very much so so specially when the information's not ready to level chain you mention that if we already understand the disease the writer is quite dangerous and yet here are some vital information is not radio available even the strains them and also a very specific space if it item the primer tests if we cannot get the primer the tests we need require each extra efforts to sew to set out and to get the proper results done without that it's not possible. to do under learn type or really even there for the time being thank you very much for joining us thank you. that's not a look at the latest developments in the corona virus pandemic the un's food and agricultural organization says yemen could see a catastrophic food security situation because of the pandemic near famine conditions and the 5 year war there in brazil regional leaders have warned that the health care infrastructure could collapse as demand for beds in intensive care units skyrockets a total

all of us all it all over the president says the w.h.o. could have done a better job in managing this crisis especially in the early days of the pandemic what more can you tell us about why trump is threatening to cut funding and quit the world's health body. well clearly you want to look at the overarching picture and that particular president trumps position on multilateralism or if you want to put it into his own words it's very simple america 1st and that's what we've seen for old his whole presidency and now also and perhaps even more important is that he's trying to distract from criticism that he's facing right now and that is that he's acted too late that they can't you can't be held accountable for the for the situation the united states is finding itself in right now trump essentially saying i acted late because of china not being transparent enough and that the w.h.o. is a chinese puppet those are the allegations made by president trump it's important to point out though that some of the criticism he's making is justified but let

also speaking to the assembly was german chancellor and you know medical or renewed her support for the w.h.o. she called for more cooperation among nations to tackle the pandemic here is what she said. grace would say cocoon of you was punin you know i am a desire not going to virus pandemic has shown us that we need to do more globally in prevention research and the strengthening of health systems that's the theme direct isn't that the w.h.o. is the legitimate global organization for health so we must continue working to improve my seizures within the w.h.o. and ensure that it has sustainable financing not. i'm joined now by a political correspondent hans brahms who's following the double murder assembly for us hunts what is the message and get american is sending well i think you have to say that here is again a complete support for the w.h.o. in this situation it's backing i'm going to knuckle under german government are backing the while the world health organization as the legitimate organization in international affairs as far as health is concerned of course there was an element of cr

the w.h.o. will obviously use science to guide any investigation but if the w.h.o. wants to deliver clear answers it's going to have to do forensics investigating it's going to have to ask labs in showing that have worked with corona virus before to open up their books does the w.h.o. does it have the forensics expertise to do that and does it have the political authority to make that happen. so under the international health regulations we all school countries and all countries under the i don't think action to share data but we cannot compel so but again any comedy of investigation of that kind you need to set the questions you need to set the parameters you need to have agreement by the countries how these things were done so we're quite a long way off working out the actual needs he gritty of such an investigation we know that all stroy in the united states reportedly want a resolution calling for harder measures against china china has agreed reportedly because the resolution has been watered down the european union we understand was the mediator in the bridge

and what the w.h.o. then did about it these are legitimate questions for which we need answers however to unilaterally conclude as president trump has concluded that all problems to do with the current code 19 pandemic can be slated back to the world health organization frankly just flies in the face of reality i think president trump is seeking in part to deflect attention from the performance of his own administration which even on the part of certain republicans has been judged to be chaotic. the president has also threatened to bomb and keep on funding from the shore now you had written an article in the economist earlier where the initial threats have been made for the suspension of u.s. funding what do you say now to what donald trump as. well i think the present united states needs to understand that the united nations system including the world health organization is america's child it was created in the aftermath of the 2nd world war and it came into being because that had a great show in one in

had the w.h.o. done its job to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out china's lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been contained at its source. >> joining me now is cnn medical analyst dr. celine gounder. >> thank you for having me. >> xi jinping backed a w.h.o. led review of the coronavirus pandemic. china contributed $2 billion to help world health organizations, certainly to help developing nations in their fight against the pandemic. in exchange taiwan will be side lined. what is your reaction to all of this? >> i think it's important to remember, rosemary, what the role of the world health organization is. it's not the cia or fbi. it's not meant to be an investigative organization. it's also not an organization that has the capacity like organizations like nsf and others to actually deploy people on the ground to respond to a crisis. they're really in the business of setting guidelines, analyzing the science, making recommendations, providing technical assistanc

tedros, the w.h.o. has made a major contribution in leading and advancing the global response to covid-19. its good work is applauded by the international community. at this critical juncture, to support the w.h.o. just to support international cooperation and the battle for saving life as well. china calls on the international community to increase political and financial support for w.h.o. so as to mobilize resources worldwide to defeat the virus. third, we must provide greater support for africa. developing countries, african countries in particular, have weaker public health systems. helping them deal with capacity must be our top priority in covid-19 response. the world needs to provide more material, technological and personal support for african countries. china has sent a tremendous amount of medical supplies and assistance to over 50 african countries, and the african union. five chinese medical expert teams have also been sent to the african continent. in total, in the past seven decades, over

was founded by the united states and other member states. w.h.o. s benefitted from enormous generosity from the people of the united states. almost inca the united states, since at least 1902, has been the leader in global public health. and i cannot imagine an environment where the united states would not be in w.h.o. and contributing to w.h.o. as it does today. let me put it this way, individually we are no match -- together we are. that was shown really proof positive in 1980 when smallpox was declared eradicated. it could not have done without the support of the united states and all member states. if we stick together, we will take care of covid. we will put covid back to where it belongs. >> thank you. >>> tonight on cnn at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific, please tune into my latest special. it's called "china's deadly secret." it takes you inside the chaos and perhaps the cover up in china as it became ground zero for covid-19 in december. >>> next on "gps" now china is lashing out at the american secretary of state and tightening its grip on h

has also been pushing for the w.h.o. to end its exclusion of taiwan china which claims to have won as its territory has been blocking its participation for several years and that means that one of the places that has been most successful at combat in the coronavirus pandemic won't have a seat at the table taiwan responded quickly to the outbreak and has suffered from the tiddley few infections and deaths we have this report now from taipei. no lock down of any kind despite its proximity to china taiwan is one of the few spots on earth where life has continued close to normal throughout the pandemic with only a few 100 coronavirus infections and less than 10 deaths taiwan's handling of the crisis is a unique success story all the more surprising that the w.h.o. doesn't seem to be interested in taiwan's approach the organization blocked taiwan from taking part in its annual meeting several years ago under pressure from beijing that has deprived the island of access to crucial information about the virus. we were successful

perhaps this is one of the things the world and the w.h.o. could learn from this island. we're joined now by dr daniel knew the former time when his delegate to the world health assembly who was featured in that report he joined us from taipei dr no welcome and despite not being a member of the doubler true or taiwan has had spectacular success and being the coronavirus spender make how was that possible yes going from taiwan turn one it was possible many because of the science experience with the thing including the legal basis with the comic asian community disease in place but we have a challenge this time from the koran the virus and also the spite of. from this hour long mutation of the so-called ignited we were prepared and we prepared early and we prepared earnestly i think this is important. in public health it is the way we have been doing this work for so long we need almost a trial so asperin see and truthfulness that we deal with health lives of people not wholly x. and where we do that off front if you see they people trust this well officials have been trust

he is demanding that the w.h.o. show more independence from china, though with these recent moves by xi jinping and the addition to this $2 billion to developing nations, a lot of them to help fight coronavirus, the opposite may be happening, so we will be c. this president can be very persuasive when it comes to funding, as we have seen with nato. we will see if it works with the w.h.o. >> dana: john roberts, thank you. let's bring it special report anchor, brad baer. we have seen that the president is using the leverage to try to exact some change. and i think that it seems to me in reading the letter that the trump administration realizes that all world health organization and theory is a good thing to have, but there's got to be some changes if we are going to print, continue to participate. >> i think -- >> dana: can you hold that thought? president trump is leading this meeting, and he might take some questions here. >> president trump: republican senators were there. i think we made tremendous moves on some is

we're doing the exact same thing with w.h.o. not smart when you're taking on one-sixth of humanity. you need the other five-sixths of the world on your size. >> zanny, the chinese have revealed something startling, they have no growth target for this year is china always has had a growth target, they met it. and this year they're not announcing a target because it's probably the weakest growth in 45 years in china. >> that's right. they're not announcing a growth target, that's a huge change. their economy sha rrank by 6.5% the first quarter, it's low in the second. i think -- i'm not sure this is a sense of weakness from china relative to the rest of the world. they're not doing that because they don't want to be embarrassed by it, but i think they think the chinese economy is not doing nearly as badly as other economies around the world. a lot of this behavior coming from beijing, the crackdown on hong kong, is using in part the timing of covid where the rest of the world is distracted to do something that president xi is deter

and let's get more we're joined by dr daniel lu the former taiwanese delegate to the w.h.o. who was also featured in the after party he joins us from taipei welcome to the program and thank you so much for being with us why is it so important for taiwan to once again have a seat at the deputy chose top table yes i've got to move on taipei thank you for this opportunity for will to speak up a little bit for compatriots and all hills is a signpost so for us to go to a couple shows not just for this epidemic along the pent is devastating for a lot of we were scared and we were very. anxious but we've managed so far but operational provide not only for the sexual diseases the profile all but all the issues the plateful for all the public health issues it's just not fair for us to to go into the bar so we get to work all by also with out with all cooperation and help well instructed or to the national stage and given the ongoing geopolitical tensions you know we mentioned that yes you are excluded as a member so that that is part of that how confident are you therefore that the w.

president donald trump issues an ultimatum to the w.h.o. he threatens to freeze funding for the organization permanently if he doesn't see improvements within 30 days specifically he accuses the global health body of favoritism toward china what does this mean for global efforts to combat the coronavirus. also coming up germany and france proposing a rescue fund of half a trillion euros for europe's battered economies it's an about face for german chancellor angela merkel but she says the goal is to help europe emerge stronger from the coronavirus crisis and french cinema loses 8 legends a prolific star of the stage and silver screen dies at the age of $94.00. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program u.s. president donald trump has threatened to cut funding to the world health organization permanently unless it implements substantial improvements over the next 30 days in a letter to the director general of the w.h.o. trump says that the organization gives terrible advice for fighting the coronavirus and accuses it of being too close to china t

the w.h.o. and get to the bottom of exactly what happened? difficult -- tarik: it is difficult to speculate. normally these meetings are much longer and discuss a variety of health issues. this time we will have only one discussing covid-19 and some procedural matters with only two days assembly, and member states will have a possibility to address the world health assembly and make their points. so from our side, we are always reviewing how the w.h.o. is functioning, and we have reviews. right now, we are looking leadersfrom the world what they have to say. francine: when you look at some of the things that each country is doing individually, in reopening, he is getting it right? does the w.h.o. have a template on how we kind of feel our way through reopening the economy? do people have to wear masks? why don't we have a uniform way of how you reopen an economy while keeping people safe? tarik: first of all, the situation is not the same in each country, so every country has its own specific --

secretary general antonio complained that many countries ignored the w.h.o. as warnings at the beginning of the corona virus outbreak as a result the virus has traveled worldwide and is now spreading in the global south where the effects could be far more devastating than in developed countries the german chancellor angela merkel warned in her video message that only joint efforts can defeat the pandemic. virtually no country has been spared by this pandemic so no country can so this problem alone we must work together that the meeting will also address criticism of the w.h.s. handling of the pandemic the majority of the member states are expected to supporting independent investigation. say look now at some of the other stories making news around the world today for the 2nd time in 10 days broke out in hong kong's legislative council between pro-democracy and pro-government politicians they were sparked by the removal of a pro-democracy blog maker who would have presided over elections to a key committee security guards carried several legislators out of the

the united states is facing a growing backlash over its threat you probably hold the funding to the w.h.o. and that's after president donald trump said the organizations missteps have come i found extreme cost and i think they've done a. very sad job in the last period of time and again the united states pays them $450000000.00 a year china pays them $38000000000.00 a year and they're a puppet of china they're china centric to put it nicer but they're a puppet of china. well russia has become the latest global power to condemn trump threats deputy foreign minister has been quoted as saying it is against the breaking the w.h.o. for another members political purposes. or accuse the united states of attempting to avoid responsibility for the handling of his own outbreak of the transfer marks were meant to criticize china's response efforts made the u.s. tries to use china as an issue to shirk responsibility and bargain over its international obligations to the w.h.o. this is a miscalculation and the u.s. has picked the wrong target and they want. the u.s. leaders open later is full of hints

the move has been welcomed by the w.h.o. director general. the un body has come under attack from the u.s. which is accused it of being too close to china president trump threatened to cut all funding unless those what he calls substantive improvements within the next 30 days but his demands are under fire by kind of reports from washington d.c. . president trump arrives on capitol hill for a meeting with senate republicans continuing to flout his administration's own guidelines by not wearing a mask in public and lashing out at the speaker of the house democrat nancy pelosi these people are sick pelosi is a sick woman she got a lot of problems a lot of mental problems we're dealing with people that have to get their act together for the good of the country pelosi has sharply criticized president trump's threat to withhold funding from the w.h.o. describing it in a radio interview as stupid and dangerous earlier in the day the president indicated he had no intention of backing down but. the. war. was resigned only through the letters a very de

and we had problems with the w.h.o. with ebola. early in the ebola outbreak, the w.h.o. was resistant to make a determination about the scale of that outbreak. in part, because west african countries like liberia, guinea, and sierra leone did not want to make known there was an outbreak in ntheir countries. we used the w.h.o.'s vast infrastructure to stamp out that outbreak. we cooperate have done it without the w.h.o. it took u.s. leadership, plus the w.h.o. and its capacity, to marshal health resources to deal with that outbreak. and what is so self-defeating about this, steve, is that there are going to be massive international dimensions to the covid-19 response. how do you scale up and disseminate a vaccine globally? how do you deal with issues around resume being travel and supply chains, as countries begin to come out of this, in different kinds of shape? and the u.s. absenting itself from that process is quite dangerous in my view. and ironically, steve, the u.s. walking away from the table will only make china that much more influential in the w.h.o. if our conce

it is significant it is the 2nd shot against against w.h.o. and against china let's not forget that is what is seemingly behind this action the president had about a month ago already blamed the w h o of being basically the right hand of china in masking what the truth is in his mind and that is that the virus comes fair and square from china and that china failed to inform the united states and other countries early enough about the significance and the danger of the virus now this is the 2nd one the 2nd shot so to speak against w h o that the double digits or just the bidding for china and that comes just days after china said they're more than happy to fund the w.h.o. investigation as also more research into where the virus not only comes from but how dangerous that is well everybody knows how dangerous it is that killed by now and 90000 plus americans and countless other people around the world for the president this is also very very important politically speaking because it caters to his clear and tell it caters to his followers they blam

it's a troubling tale, indeed, what the w.h.o. tself with the communist chinese government. >> well, fauci, like the head of w.h.o., you have to remember at this level all of these folks are colleagues. so you need a second set of eyes to look at the communications. dr. fauci was hearing it from his colleagues about what was going on with coronavirus, and he may not be the best judge to tell us what he was learning and what he should have known and what we should have known generally and acted upon. we need to do an audit of what happened with our u.s. government and what we're hearing from w.h.o. on behalf of china. it looks like they were a cutout for china, and i think these documents are going to show it. and dr. fauci admits, he says, look, i didn't recognize initially how susceptible, how transmit if bl this was and how it could be spread so easily. did that come because of lies out of china? it looks that way, and with w.h.o. involved in pushing those lies. it it looks that way too. lou: the president's made it clear he has