Trump Announced Relations with WHO Breakdown and the Hong Kong’s Status Revision

US closes relations with World Health Organization due to situation with coronavirus pandemic President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had instructed his administration to begin the process of eliminating Hong Kong’s special economic preference regime in response to China’s plans to introduce new security legislation in the former British colony. President stated at the White House press conference. Trump stressed that China has broken its promise on Hong Kong autonomy. The President said that these actions are a tragedy for Hong Kong residents, for China and for the whole world. “We will take measures to abolish the preferential treatment for Hong Kong,” the president said, adding that the United States will also impose sanctions on those responsible for suppressing Hong Kong’s autonomy. The White House’s decision followed China’s plans to pass a new national security law in Hong Kong. State Secretary Mike Pompeo informed this week that Hong Kong is no longer meeting the requirements for a special status under US law, allowing the city to remain a global financial center. Trump said he instructed his administration to begin the process of canceling political agreements with Hong Kong, starting from extradition regime to the export control. Another important statement made by the president on Friday related to the World Health Organization. Trump said the US is ending relations with WHO because of the situation with coronavirus. According to the president, WHO has become a puppet in China. Trump emphasized that WHO has not begun to reform its work, which the United States has been insisting on for a month now. According to him, the Chinese authorities “ignored their reporting obligations” about the virus to WHO and put pressure on WHO to “mislead the world” at the time when Beijing first found out about the coronavirus outbreak on its territory. “China has full control over the World Health Organization, despite paying only $ 40 million per year, compared with the US contribution of about $ 450 million per year. We described in detail the reforms that need to be implemented and we worked directly with them but they refused to act, ”the president said. Trump announced that starting today, the United States is breaking off its relationship with WHO. Funds spent on membership dues will be redirected to help other countries and the “urgent needs of global public health”. The president added that on Friday he will also sign a declaration on important university studies protection. The declaration will suspend the entry into the United States of Chinese citizens, representing a potential threat to national security. As several sources told Reuters, this measure may concern from 3 to 5 thousand graduate students from China. Shortly after the press conference, the White House officially distributed a message stating that the president signed the declaration.