00:00U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says his country will not participate in an
00:06agreement among World Health Organization member countries to improve the response to future
00:11pandemics. The WHO has not even come to terms with its failures during COVID, let alone
00:17made significant reforms. Instead, it has doubled down with the pandemic agreement,
00:23which will lock in all of the dysfunctions of the WHO pandemic response. Well, we're not going to
00:30participate in that. Kennedy made the comments in a video addressed to the World Health Assembly,
00:37the WHO's top decision-making body. He also called on other countries to follow the U.S.'s example in
00:43leaving the WHO, saying that China and international power politics hold too much sway over its
00:50operations. This is the first time the U.S., historically the organization's top funder,
00:56was absent from the annual meeting. U.S. President Donald Trump started the 12-month
01:01withdrawal process earlier this year. Taiwan's former Vice President Chen Zhen-ren says this
01:07could impact Taipei's desire to be included in the organization.
01:11U.S. President Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, President Donald Trump,
01:31Proposals by Taiwan's allies to allow the country to attend this year's assembly were rejected.
01:37It has been barred since 1972, except for seven years, from 2009 to 2016, when it was given observer status.
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