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In recent months, President Donald Trump lashed out at China over the coronavirus pandemic, but praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s handling of the deadly disease for months at the start of the outbreak, CNN reports.
When the first coronavirus patients began to appear in the United States, Trump praised Xi’s handling of the outbreak in China, repeatedly saying that the United States was in close coordination with Beijing on the matter.
“I think they have handled it professionally and I think they are extremely capable and I think President Xi is extremely capable and I hope it is resolved,” he said on February 13.
After hundreds of deaths in the United States, Trump’s attitude toward Beijing began to change.
“I’m a little upset with China, I’ll be honest with you, because as much as I like President Xi and as much as I respect the country and admire the country, I have great admiration for the country, what they ‘have done in a short period of time. … But they should have told us about this, ”he said on March 22.
Yet even as cases skyrocketed in the US and Trump’s anger with China grew, he directed his actions not at Beijing but at the World Health Organization.
Trump said he was halting funding for the organization in mid-April and announced his intention to withdraw from the WHO in May after saying he “failed to make the requested and much-needed reforms.”
Trump had denounced the United States’ contribution to the WHO (between $ 400 million and $ 500 million) compared to China and consistently accused the organization of helping China allegedly cover up the origins of the virus and allow it to spread. In July, the US withdrawal from the WHO officially began, which will be completed next July.
Trump said last week that he could not say when he had last spoken to his Chinese counterpart.
“I haven’t talked to him in a while because I don’t want to talk to him,” he said.
