A seed of the administration’s issue with the WHO is a valid complaint against China, whose leaders concealed information about the novel coronavirus in late December and in January. They hid information about the spreading contagion and its human transmission when more aggressive action and disclosure could have helped brake the spread. China’s leaders have an obligation to be more forthcoming about the origin of the virus and the coverups.

But it is wrong to blame the WHO for China’s failures. In a news conference last week, Mr. Pompeo declared that Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “failed” to “enforce” the International Health Regulations, the rules underlying the WHO, concerning transparency and disclosure. The United States and other nations revised and put those rules into effect in 2007. But Mr. Tedros had no power to coerce China. The WHO lacks the compliance muscle of, say, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which strictly regulates nuclear materials. The WHO is dependent on the decisions and actions of its members. The International Health Regulations had no enforcement mechanism because the countries wanted it that way to protect their sovereignty. The WHO can’t just swoop into Wuhan, China, and make demands.

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Mr. Tedros and his top advisers were too quick to praise China in their public comments early in the outbreak. But the reality of the WHO is that its greatest power is persuasion; the agency successfully negotiated an expert delegation’s visit to China in the middle of the crisis. Mr. Pompeo’s criticism ignores this balancing act. Now, according to a report in The Post, Mr. Pompeo is spearheading a campaign not only to delay U.S. government funds to the agency but also to sideline it by shifting funds to other groups or starting a parallel organization. This small-minded approach will damage the WHO and disrupt global cooperation in fighting diseases. The agency takes risks on the front lines that benefit the United States by keeping diseases at bay. A courageous WHO mission to Congo fought Ebola virus disease and measles in recent years in a struggle so treacherous that U.S. experts were barred from participating due to security concerns.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) expressed concern that the United States not abandon the WHO, particularly in the midst of a pandemic. Hopefully other sensible Republicans will join with Democrats to block the administration’s counterproductive moves. Mr. Pompeo and President Trump ought to quit making the WHO a scapegoat for their own management failures in combating the virus.

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