GENEVA: China criticized the United States for withdrawing from the World Health Organization, telling a meeting of the WHO Executive Board that countries should not place domestic politics ahead of international law as member states consider how to handle the U.S. exit. The remarks came during discussions on membership changes and the mechanics of withdrawal, an area where WHO officials have said existing rules leave key questions unresolved.
The United States completed its withdrawal from WHO on Jan. 22, 2026, after the required one year notice period following President Donald Trump’s executive order signed on Jan. 20, 2025. U.S. officials have said the withdrawal ended U.S. membership and halted U.S. government funding and staffing support tied to the organization.
China’s representative, attending the Executive Board meeting in Geneva, urged major countries to “lead by example” and warned against treating WHO as something to use when convenient and abandon when it is not. The Chinese delegate also said governments should not bypass WHO by creating alternative mechanisms and argued that WHO’s procedures on membership changes contain gaps and ambiguities that need improvement.
WHO officials have acknowledged that the organization has little precedent for handling a withdrawal of this scale under the current legal framework. The Executive Board agreed to refer issues linked to the U.S. withdrawal to the World Health Assembly, the organization’s annual decision-making meeting scheduled for May 2026. The board also discussed Argentina’s separate notification of withdrawal from the global health body.
Legal issues sent to World Health Assembly
A WHO document prepared for the Executive Board states that the WHO Constitution contains no provision on denunciation or withdrawal. The document also says the United Nations Secretary-General, as depositary of the Constitution, has indicated that in the absence of a withdrawal clause and without an identical precedent, the depositary is not in a position to determine whether certain notifications can be accepted and will be guided by the World Health Assembly as the competent body.
The legal note cites the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which addresses withdrawal from treaties that do not provide for denunciation or withdrawal and sets conditions including a minimum 12 months notice. In the U.S. case, Congress authorized membership in WHO through a 1948 joint resolution that reserves the U.S. right to withdraw on one year’s notice, provided U.S. financial obligations to WHO are met in full for the organization’s current fiscal year, a condition the Health Assembly is expected to consider.
Budget and outbreak cooperation
WHO has said it regrets the U.S. withdrawal and has described the decision as making both the United States and the world less safe. The United States has been WHO’s largest financial contributor in recent years, and WHO leadership has said the loss of U.S. funding has forced budget and staffing adjustments, including restructuring at senior levels. China has also highlighted the importance of multilateral health coordination and has previously announced increases to its own WHO funding.
The United States, responding to questions about China’s criticism, said WHO pursued a politicized, bureaucratic agenda and failed on information sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. officials have said the government would pursue public health priorities through direct work with countries and other partners outside the WHO framework, while WHO member states prepare to take up the legal and procedural questions at the Health Assembly.
Even after the federal withdrawal, some U.S. states and cities have sought continued technical links to global outbreak coordination. New York City has joined the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, and officials in California and Illinois have also taken steps to align with the same network, reflecting local efforts to maintain access to international disease response channels as the debate over WHO membership rules moves to the organization’s governing assembly. – By Content Syndication Services.