Accusing the World Health Organization (WHO) of giving into China’s alleged spin on the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said the UN health body should be renamed as the “Chinese Health Organization”.
Aso also criticised WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for “inadequate evaluation to address the coronavirus outbreak”.
He also referred to an online petition on Change.org calling for the resignation of Ghebreyesus.
“At least the petition has received 500,000 signatures. People think the World Health Organization should change its name…it shouldn’t be called the WHO, it should be renamed the CHO (or Chinese Health Organization). This is truly resonating with the people,” Aso said.
He accused WHO for not investigating China’s death and infected numbers, and delaying global health emergency declaration in late January.
“Early on, if the WHO had not insisted to the world that China had no pneumonia epidemic, then everybody would’ve taken precautions. The WHO, which is a global organisation, does not even include Taiwan. And then precisely because Taiwan is not a member of the WHO, it becomes a world leader in fighting the epidemic,” Aso said asking Taiwan to be included in the UN.
