Japan’s Abe calls for support for World Health Organization after US cuts

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his support for the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday, calling on the global community to do the same following President Trump’s announcement that the United States would halt funding to the health body. 

“The cooperation of the WHO is essential in fighting the coronavirus,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo, according to Bloomberg. 

Abe said that his country would continue its contributions to the organization.

“Japan is not thinking at all of cutting or ending its contributions. Now is the time to support the WHO,” he noted.

President Trump on Tuesday said that his administration would halt U.S. funding to the WHO, pending a review “to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

The president also slammed the WHO for opposing travel restrictions and claimed that the health body “put political correctness above life-saving measures.” 

A group of GOP lawmakers on Thursday said that they support Trump’s decision to halt the funding and suggested that monetary assistance be reinstated pending the resignation of WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

Though Abe pledged to support the WHO, he noted that there were some problems with the organization that needed to be addressed after the coronavirus crisis subsided. 

“There are various opinions about the WHO,” Abe said, according to Bloomberg. “There are opinions that it isn’t politically neutral.” 

Abe joins other world leaders in defending the WHO. On Thursday, during a call with Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the work of the organization as well, according to Bloomberg.