Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian
Source:
Press TV
The
Chinese government has suggested that the US military might have brought the
new coronavirus to the Chinese city of Wuhan, the birthplace of the current
global pandemic.
The
COVID-19 disease, caused by the new coronavirus, emerged in the provincial
capital of Hubei late last year and is currently affecting 125 countries and
territories across the globe. It has so far affected more than 130,000 people
and killed more than 4,700 others.
The
World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus outbreak a global
pandemic.
The
Chinese government had been criticized by Western media and particularly by the
US officials for what was alleged to be a slow response to the outbreak and of
not being sufficiently transparent. But Beijing has been taking strict measures
since the outbreak began, including locking down Wuhan, a city of roughly 11
million people, which has since appeared to pay off.
The
latest of these scathing comments by American officials came on Wednesday, when
US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said that the speed of Beijing’s
reaction to the emergence of the COVID-19 disease had probably cost the world
two months when it could have been preparing for the outbreak.
He
claimed that the Chinese government had “covered up” the outbreak in Wuhan.
“It
probably cost the world community two months to respond,” during which “we
could have dramatically curtailed what happened both in China and what’s now
happening across the world,” O’Brien said.
On
Thursday, in a strongly-worded tweet, written in English, Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian rebuked the US for its alleged lack of
transparency in official reports regarding the coronavirus outbreak in the US.
“When
did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names
of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be
transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!” Zhao wrote.
Earlier
in the day, another Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, lambasted
US officials for “immoral and irresponsible” comments that blamed China’s
response to the coronavirus for the worsening global impact of the pandemic.
Geng
particularly refereed to remarks made by O’Brien, stressing that such comments
by American officials would not help US epidemic efforts. He also said that
China’s efforts to slow the spread of the disease had in fact bought the world
time to prepare against the epidemic.
“We
wish that a few officials in the US would at this time concentrate their energy
on responding to the virus and promoting cooperation, and not on shifting the
blame to China,” he added.
--------------------------------------
Corona
Virus Updates 2020
Related News Links:
Posts
a.jpg)
a.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting on this post. Please consider sharing it on Facebook or Twitter for a wider discussion.