China not only unleashed the deadly coronavirus pandemic on the world, but they "protected themselves" while doing it, closing down travel in their country from the city of Wuhan but permitting it internationally, according to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"They sent over a million people around the world – 1.5 million – almost like ambassadors carrying the disease," Giuliani told host John Catsimatidis on Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on 970 AM-N.Y.

"What's wrong with them, John? They have no conscience. It's really a tragedy. This is directly caused by the Chinese Communist government, and by the choices they made. Almost all of this could have been avoided, John.

"The whole world is kind of shut down for three weeks because of them," he added.

Giuliani added a rebuke of the World Health Organization and its Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"He's in the pocket of China; he did everything China wanted," Giuliani told Catsimatidis.

"His endorsement [of China's claims about the coronavirus] really meant something," he added. "What it meant was that you were taking in people that were spreading a deadly disease in your country. This person's not even a doctor. He's some kind of political hack. There are questions about prior corruption in his career. And he's very tight with the Chinese communists, and seems to hate America.

"What a choice as head of the World Health Organization."

President Donald Trump's administration has halted funding to the WHO amid a review and U.S. officials are demanding a change in leadership until funding is restored. The U.S. had provided the most funding to the WHO, now billionaire Bill Gates is.

Also, Trump has vowed to end the $3.7 million Obama-era grant to the Wuhan, China, virology lab that is may have released COVID-19 onto the world.