• Posted May 22, 2025

China Donates $500M to WHO as U.S. Pulls Back Support

THURSDAY, May 22, 2025 (HealthDay News) — China has promised to give $500 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) over the next five years, positioning itself to become the group’s top donor. 

The pledge comes as the United States plans to leave the international organization, The Washington Post reported.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong announced the donation at the World Health Assembly in Geneva earlier this week. He said the money would help support global health and fight "unilateralism."

“The world is now facing the impacts of unilateralism and power politics, bringing major challenges to global health security,” Liu said. “China strongly believes that only with solidarity and mutual assistance can we create a healthy world together.”

President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO earlier this year, criticizing the organization for its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from political influence of WHO member states.

His administration has also moved away from other international agreements, such as the Paris climate accord.

Some experts see China as stepping in to fill the leadership gap left by Trump as he pursues his "America first" agenda.

“The Trump administration’s attacks on and contempt for international governance have offered new opportunities for Chinese diplomacy,” Zhao Minghao, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, explained to The Post.

At the World Health Assembly meeting, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized WHO as being “moribund” and “mired in bureaucratic bloat," The Post added in its report.

Meanwhile, China has worked to boost its image by increasing support for other international groups. 

It has become the largest contributor of U.N. peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the Security Council, and it continues to invest in green energy worldwide, The Post said.

What's more, analysts say China is using this influence to shape global rules in its favor. Zhao noted that the country leads the world in electric car and battery production and is investing heavily in climate change.

China has also used its power to block Taiwan's membership in the World Health Assembly for the last nine years.

China’s growing role in WHO may also help deflect criticism over its handling of the COVID pandemic, which began in the city of Wuhan.

“It’s astonishing that a country like U.S. that announced its departure from the WHO would attack another country that is expanding its investment in the organization,” a spokesman for the Chinese delegation in Geneva said.

More information

Learn more about the role of the World Health Organization.

SOURCE: The Washington Post, May 21, 2025