Joe Biden says he’ll take the U.S. back into the World Health Organization on his first day in office, reversing the withdrawal President Trump began in July. That would be a mistake. The coronavirus pandemic revealed the WHO as an agency ruinously in thrall to China. Rushing back in would reinforce this problem, not solve it.
The U.S. should require the WHO to meet two conditions before resuming the lavish flow of funds, expertise and credibility that U.S. membership has long conferred. First, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization’s China-pandering chief, needs to resign. His five-year term expires in mid-2022 but he needs to go sooner. His deference to China’s Communist Party, at the expense of world health, has produced the WHO’s most catastrophic failure since its founding in 1948.
Second, the WHO should invite Taiwan to its proceedings, despite Beijing’s objections. Unlike Communist China, with its coverups and totalitarian lockdowns, Taiwan has done an exemplary job of combining the rights of a free society with the rigors of disease control. While Taiwan might have little to learn from the WHO, it has plenty to offer.
Read the full article in the Wall Street Journal