Trump has been critical of the WHO for not handling the initial covid situation in China very well. This included downplaying it initially in December, while continuously praising China’s response etc. (none which excuses Trump’s inaction IMO, it only deflects)
Along that line, back in early 2019 I’d heard that many people were critical of the increasingly pro-China view that the WHO has taken in the last few years. Specifically in regard to the WHO endorsing “alternate complimentary medicine” like Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture.
Western doctors were outraged that treatments like TCM and acupuncture that had repeatedly failed legitimate attempts to prove them valid, were being endorsed by an international body like the WHO.
The reason given for the endorsement was that the Chinese government has increased their voluntary contributions to the WHO, in exchange for the WHO’s endorsement, promotion and expansion of these Chinese remedies.
There were also very recent stories questioning why the WHO does not admit Taiwan as a member country - obviously because of Chinese pressure. Even now they currently roll Taiwanese Covid totals into China’s. (This makes The WHO’s remarks yesterday criticizing Trump for politicizing Covid especially ironic, saying the WHO is colour blind when it comes to politics. Except when it comes to Chinese interests like Taiwan.)
That said, it sounds like a legitimate quid pro quo: more funding for an endorsement, but I’m curious if that’s valid?
GQ Factual Question - Has anybody seen anything with actual dollars showing the recent voluntary contribution amount from China and its comparative base? I’ve been googling and can’t find anything recent. I found one article behind a paywall and the WHO doesn’t have anything recent on their site.
BTW - I really don’t want to debate the validity of TCM or acupuncture, I’ve looked into them a lot and they’re absolute bullshit. My mind won’t change on that and if you’re a woo believer, I won’t change yours.
WHO has a biennial budget and the one for 2018/2019 is the latest one we know for voluntary contributions since the 2020/2021 budget just started this year. If you want to know how much each country contributed to funding, WHO has this page. You can search for total contribution or by country/organization. If you hover your mouse over the bars, you can see total expenditure by amount, percentage, and which offices and programs it went towards.
tl:dr
China was assessed close to $76 million and voluntarily paid just over $10 million towards the past budget.
@Saturn Dream
Thanks - If you roll in Macau and Hong Kong, they are pushing about $10OM. Which seems surprisingly low to me given China’s population and economy.
I guess what we can’t tell from this is the voluntary donations being made by Chinese affiliated companies. You’d need to go through and trace the ownership of everybody on the list.
WHO’s acknowledgement of TCM as treatment has less to do with Chinese money, (at least through official WHO channels), and more to do with China’s increasing soft power and political influence at the WHO since former Director General Margaret Chan was elected back in 2006. It’s not a coincidence that both she and current DG Tedros were backed by China. China has been lobbying hard behind the scenes since then to get TCM recognized to give them a voice on global “medicine” and treatments, and more importantly, encourage the spread of TCM and enable them to tap in to an expanded global market.
Poorer nations, like those in Africa, (where China has been investing heavily through their China-Africa Development fund and Belt and Road Initiative and strengthening their geo-political influence), face economic difficulties in getting traditional science-based Western medicine and are thus more open to accepting TCM. With WHO’s backing, it just got even easier, and in the future, could be officially subsidized by those nation’s governments through their health departments, which helps Chinese companies touting TCM.