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Editor's Note: Michael Bociurkiw is Global Affairs Analyst and Export Speaker of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @WorldAffairsPro. The opinions expressed in this comment are yours; See more opinions at CNNE.com/opinion
(CNN) - Tuesday was a bad day for the agency leading the fight against the deadly covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO).
It should be enough that the UN agency is in the midst of coordinating the ongoing global public health response to the pandemic (while trying to commemorate its 72nd birthday). But it was also the day President Donald Trump (after tearing up the "fake news" media on Monday) decided to target the WHO.
Starting with a tweet around noon, Trump attacked the Geneva-based organization for being "China-focused," because, he said, it blew up the covid-19 response. He criticized the WHO for providing, he wrote, an "erroneous recommendation" to keep the US-China border open in January, when the covid-19 virus began making its way around the world.
(The WHO did not respond to my request for comment Tuesday on the president's statements.)
The president continued his protest against the organization at Tuesday's daily briefing by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, saying the United States will review its financial contributions to the body. Trump has already proposed cutting funds to $ 58 million by 2021, about half of the $ 122 million congress approved for WHO this year.
Now is not the time for Trump to dump red meat
Trump's unexpected tirade against WHO, presented on World Health Day, which pays tribute to front-line health workers, may be dismissed by some as yet another rude attempt by the president on his red meat base. If that's the case, doing so in the midst of an unprecedented global public health emergency is gross and dangerous.
The attack may further erode WHO's moral authority at a time when world leaders, many of whom have been woefully caught unprepared, require leadership and coordination.
But many will no doubt ironically note that as the world economy has stalled, recording nearly 1.5 million confirmed cases of covid-19 and more than 80,000 deaths, China lifted its 76-day blockade on Wednesday in Wuhan, the city where the virus is believed to have originated.
That may have upset Trump and his circle, especially after the latest unemployment figures in the United States point to an unprecedented dislocation for the U.S. economy before November, when Trump will seek reelection.
Trump singled out the WHO for siding with China. Even under heavy questions from journalists, and I have sat at virtually every WHO briefing since the outbreak began, WHO officials have vigorously avoided criticizing China, an influential member state and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Now that Beijing appears to be trying to blame the outbreak on the United States, they may have forced Trump's hand to point to WHO's closeness to China.
For those of us who have worked within the United Nations, it is no surprise that WHO yields to China. In fact, having worked closely with WHO in at least three of its regions, I have observed an almost incestuous relationship between the organization and the ministries of health in their respective member states, including China.
Differences over masks complicate White House relationship with WHO
Another reason for the White House attack on WHO could be that the agency has issued an anti-guide to the administration's Coronavirus Task Force on wearing scarves and face masks during the covid-19 outbreak.
The WHO has continually said that masks should be prioritized for front-line health workers, that they give civilian users a false sense of security and that they actually promote touching their faces.
The WHO has also said that non-health workers should wear masks if they have the virus or, alternatively, if they are caring for someone affected.
Additionally, the WHO has had trouble with Trump's obsessive urge for off-label use of untested prescription drugs, such as hydroxychloroquine, to treat patients with covid-19.
"Using unproven drugs without the correct evidence could raise false hopes and even do more harm than good and cause a shortage of essential drugs that are necessary to treat other diseases," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
But disagreements with the WHO should not lead the United States to close the group or withdraw support. While many governments ignored the early WHO guidance and instituted trade and travel restrictions, the world community still needs an authorized body that sets standards, collates and studies all pieces of the covid-19 puzzle from affected countries, and we it takes closer to getting a vaccine that saves lives.
WHO also plays an important role in disseminating public health guidance, such as information on handwashing, and advocates for the protection of front-line health workers.
Suspect WHO is too close to China
The timing of Trump's remarks could also have been part of the strategy to drive a 50% reduction in WHO annual contributions in the United States, something that political leaders have had in mind for many weeks.
The previous Tuesday, Idaho Republican Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a statement calling for an independent investigation into WHO's handling of the covid-19 response. He said the WHO director-general has shown "apparent unwillingness to keep the Chinese Communist Party to a minimum level of global health and transparency" and that it hampered the world's ability to stem the spread of the pandemic.
But at a time when Trump faces considerable criticism for confusing Washington's response to the crisis, passing the blame on to others, such as the governors, has become part of the White House playbook. It was WHO's turn to feel the warmth of a disgruntled president who has taken the sport of pointing fingers at others to a whole new level.
The latest salutes from the White House certainly further complicate the mandate of the embattled WHO chief. Tedros, the first African elected as WHO Director-General, had been in office for only a few months when he surprised the world by nominating the late Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador.
Tedros also adopted a baffling response to the epidemic in the first few weeks by delaying the declaration of "a public health emergency of international concern" and then delaying the labeling of the covid-19 outbreak again as a global pandemic.
Admittedly, the WHO, like the UN itself, is not perfect and needs urgent reform. But at a time when humanity is literally fighting for its life, now is the wrong time to behead the agency that leads the global response. If not WHO, who?
coronavirusDonald TrumpOMS
