WHO 'puppet of China': Trump

US President Donald Trump on Monday termed World Health Organization (WHO) as a Chinese 'puppet' and confirmed he is considering slashing or canceling US support.

"They're a puppet of China, they're China-centric to put it nicer," he said at the White House.

Trump said the United States pays around 450 million US dollars annually to its health body WHO, the largest contribution of any country. Plans are being crafted to slash this because "we're not treated right".

"They gave us a lot of bad advice," he said of the WHO.

US President Donald Trump has given the WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus a 30 day deadline to make "major changes" - or the US would permanently cut off funding to the organisation.

In a tweet, Mr Trump published his full letter to Mr Ghebreyesus, in which he criticised the WHO for not doing enough, saying it "consistently ignored credible reports of the virus spreading" late last year in Wuhan.

He also called out the WHO for repeatedly "praising" China, saying the only way forward for it was to "demonstrate independence from China".

He added that if the WHO did not "commit to major substantive improvements", he would "make his temporary freeze of US funding permanent and reconsider our membership".

Trump spoke as the WHO held its first annual assembly since the pandemic swept the world after originating in China, causing massive economic disruption and killing 316,000 people - close to a third of them in the United States.

Trump said China only pays about US$40 million a year and one idea was for Washington to bring "our 450 down to 40", but "some people thought that was too much".

(Source: BBC/CNA)