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US quitting the WHO: what it says of international power dynamics
Trump's administration decided to stop funding the World Health Organization (WHO).
The US hasn't officially quit yet, but it's a big step in that direction.
And I guess that China would be very happy to do anything now that will push the US over the edge.
To be sure, there are plenty of reasons one could raise eyebrows at the WHO.
And we previously reviewed a video for a framing example that showed a WHO representative refusing to discuss Taiwan as a separate country.
That does indeed suggest that China has a lot of power within the WHO.
But quitting the WHO is not necessarily a smart move. Certainly not from a power dynamics perspective.
What would the US leaving the WHO say about the international power dynamics?
It says that:
- It confirms China has indeed tremendous power: quitting was an admission that China has more power there than the US -or any other Western country-
- The US gave up instead of fighting: make no mistake, quitting is the equivalent of the kid who gets angry and takes the ball home. Except that:
- Now China has even more power: except, the US didn't take the ball home. The US went home. The game will keep playing: all other G7 countries backed the WHO. The WHO keeps on going, but without the US, that now has lost an opportunity to influence the world through the main international body of global health governance.
China has strengthened its grip on a big lever for wielding soft power.
And the US has lost it.
The bad news for all is that the US is a greater force for good than China is.
The world loses out when democratic countries standing up for freedom and democracy give up power and control to autocratic ones.
Power comes with responsibility: to use that power well. Ideally, for the greater good.
Trump's administration has abdicated that responsibility more than once.
