China has reaffirmed its commitment to jointly tackling global challenges on Tuesday, drawing a contrast with the U.S. following President Donald Trump‘s order to quit the World Health Organization (WHO) and a landmark climate agreement for the second time.
Newsweek reached out to a Trump representative by email with a request for comment.
Why It Matters
Those executive orders were among a flurry signed by Trump on Monday within hours of being inaugurated for his second term, citing the WHO’s mishandling of global health crisis including the COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019. He said the Paris Climate agreement, signed in 2016, wastes taxpayer dollars and hampers private sector growth.
Some analysts suggest that China, the U.S.’s geopolitical rival, will seize the opportunity to fill the void and strengthen its role as a global leader at Washington’s expense.
What To Know
Asked about the U.S.’s planned WHO exit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun on Tuesday highlighted the agency’s “central and coordinating role in global health governance.”
“China will, as always, support the WHO in fulfilling its responsibilities, deepening international cooperation in public health, strengthening global health governance and promoting the building of a community of human health,” he told reporters.
Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images
Guo also expressed concern over the U.S.’s departure from the Paris Agreement, calling climate change “a common challenge facing all of humanity” and here, too, pledging to work with the international community and low-carbon transition, he said.
According to the European Union‘s Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2024 was the first year on record the average global temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, a threshold set by the Paris Agreement to minimize the effects of climate change.
It was the second time in less than five years Trump had announced the U.S.—by far the WHO’s top donor—was leaving the global health body. The U.S. withdrew from the Paris climate accord in November 2020, but this was reversed just weeks later by former President Joe Biden.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump via executive order: “The WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments. China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO.”
Ottmar Edenhofer, director and chief economist of Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: “Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will disrupt the (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s) COP process, weaken the U.S.’s influence in UN climate negotiations, limit domestic climate action, and reduce pressure on other major emitters, such as China, to adopt more ambitious climate targets.”
What Happens Next
Trump, who kicked off the U.S.-China trade war during his first term, put off further increasing tariffs on Chinese goods, a major campaign pledge, pending further review.
Beijing, which is struggling to stabilize the world’s second-largest economy amid its post-pandemic slowdown, has cautioned tariff hikes would raise costs for everyday Americans and called for “win-win cooperation.”
“We hope that the U.S. will work with China in the same direction to jointly promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US economic and trade relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
