China to donate $500 million to WHO, stepping into gap left by U.S.

China has pledged to give $500 million to the World Health Organization as the country is set to replace the United States as the group’s top state donor, expanding Beijing’s global influence in the wake of Washington’s retreat from international cooperation.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong told the World Health Assembly that his country is making the contribution to oppose “unilateralism,” a trait Beijing often ascribes to Washington as relations between the two powers deteriorate.

President Donald Trump in January ordered the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO, a move that would leave Beijing as the top donor and most powerful member country.

“The world is now facing the impacts of unilateralism and power politics, bringing major challenges to global health security,” Liu said Tuesday in Geneva. “China strongly believes that only with solidarity and mutual assistance can we create a healthy world together.”

China’s pledge of $500 million, which Liu said would be given over the next five years, is one of the clearest examples of Beijing’s efforts to step into a global leadership void left by Trump as he pursues his “America First” foreign policy.

“The Trump administration’s attacks on and contempt for international governance have offered new opportunities for Chinese diplomacy,” said Zhao Minghao, a professor of international relations at Fudan University in Shanghai.

At the assembly Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the organization “moribund” and “mired in bureaucratic bloat.”

Beijing, meanwhile, has worked to portray itself as a superior alternative to U.S. power — namely, as a responsible global leader and defender of the international order. Under leader Xi Jinping, China has pursued a more aggressive foreign policy in its bid to replace the U.S. as the world’s preeminent power — a strategy that requires more friends — and has sought to rewrite the rules of the global order in its favor.

Even before Washington’s isolationist turn, China had been expanding its influence at organizations such as the United Nations. Of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China is the top contributor of U.N. peacekeepers. On a visit to Europe last week, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun said his country would contribute more to peacekeeping operations.

The goal, analysts say, is to shape international norms to Beijing’s liking as well as entrench the role of China in global supply chains.

Under Trump, the U.S. is locked in a trade war with China and has threatened sky-high tariffs on rivals and allies alike.

Zhao said he expects Beijing to play a bigger role in international cooperation when it comes to public health, but also climate change and the green-energy transition. China produces more than 60 percent of the world’s electric cars and 80 percent of the batteries that power them.

In contrast to Trump, who has ordered the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, the landmark international treaty to reduce carbon emissions, Beijing has reaffirmed its commitment to the accord and stepped up investments in green-energy infrastructure in Southeast Asia and other regions.

“China is trying to be more active in areas where it has advantages,” Zhao said.

Beijing also has tried to use the U.N. to bolster its territorial claims over Taiwan, which the ruling Chinese Communist Party says it will take control of by force if the self-ruled island democracy does not come willingly. At Beijing’s insistence, Taiwan has been barred from attending the World Health Assembly for the past nine years.

“China’s Taiwan region, unless given approval by the central government, has no basis, reason or right to participate in the WHA,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday, hailing the decision to exclude Taiwan.

Experts say Beijing takes advantage of its role in international organizations to push the idea that Taiwan is not a sovereign government.

“China has long used health diplomacy to interfere with Taiwan’s international participation and visibility,” said Chen Hsiu-hsi, a public health professor at National Taiwan University.

China “has built friendly ties with various countries and advanced its own agenda through organizations and events where the U.S. is not involved,” he said, which makes it harder for Taiwan to lobby to participate.

Beijing’s increased participation in the WHO, compared with Washington’s withdrawal, may also help insulate it from long-running U.S. criticism of China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected in the city of Wuhan.

“It’s astonishing that a country like U.S. that announced its departure from the WHO would attack another country that is expanding its investment in the organization,” a spokesman for the Chinese delegation in Geneva said Tuesday, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

The WHO is facing a 21% reduction in its 2026–2027 budget, now revised to $4.2 billion, due largely to the financial shortfall triggered by the U.S. withdrawal. On the first day of Trump’s presidency, his administration formally pulled out from the agency, ending decades of American leadership and contributions that had made the U.S. the WHO’s single largest donor.

To mitigate the financial crisis, WHO member states have adopted a new budget that increases mandatory fees by 20% over the next two years. China, with its fresh commitment and the increased assessed contributions, is now the WHO’s largest state donor. However, it is unclear whether the $500 million from Beijing includes the new mandatory fee or is entirely voluntary.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus previously warned that the funding gap—estimated at $1.9 billion—was already impacting healthcare in at least 70 countries, leading to the shutdown of health facilities, layoffs of health workers, and rising out-of-pocket costs for patients
Cementing Washington’s decision, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared in a pre-recorded video played to the assembly, where he lambasted the WHO as “moribund” and bloated with bureaucracy.

“We don’t have to suffer the limits of a moribund WHO,” Kennedy said. “Let’s create new institutions or revisit existing institutions that are lean, efficient, transparent, and accountable.”

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and vocal vaccine skeptic, went further to urge other countries to follow Washington’s example.

“I urge the world’s health ministers and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organization as a wake-up call,” he said. “We’ve already been in contact with like-minded countries and we encourage others to consider joining us.”

His remarks, aired shortly after WHO member states adopted a new pandemic agreement aimed at improving preparedness for future global health emergencies, drew no applause. Delegates reportedly watched in silence.

Kennedy dismissed the newly adopted accord as a document that would “lock in all the dysfunctions of the WHO pandemic response,” reinforcing a growing anti-globalist sentiment in the Trump administration.

This moment marks a clear turning point in the balance of global health leadership. For decades, the WHO served as a space where the United States exercised soft power through funding, expertise, and policy influence. With Washington stepping away, China is actively moving in, not only to provide financial support but also to shape the narrative around global cooperation and multilateralism.

The Trump administration’s posture, rooted in a worldview that prioritizes national sovereignty over global alliances, is reorienting America’s role in international institutions. For the WHO, this means adapting to a new reality where China is no longer just a stakeholder, but a leader.

The WHO’s next chapter, shaped by new funding sources and a shifting geopolitical backdrop, is likely to reflect Beijing’s values on global cooperation, marking a major reconfiguration of influence in one of the world’s most critical health institutions.

However, the rise of China as the WHO’s top funder raises questions about the future of multilateral health governance and the direction of the organization’s priorities. Critics of Beijing’s growing role worry about transparency and political influence, while advocates say its support is vital to ensure the WHO survives a period of unprecedented financial strain