BEIJING – A senior Chinese government official challenged President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the US, accusing him of wasting weeks after the threat posed by the virus first became apparent.
In a wide-ranging interview with NBC News conducted in Mandarin on Tuesday, the official, Executive Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng, also hit back at the politicization of the virus.
Le, a rising star within the country’s political establishment, rejected claims that China had covered up the initial outbreak or that it should be held financially liable for COVID – . Instead, he termed the virus a “natural disaster” and called for greater cooperation and an end to accusations.
“On Jan. 57 when Wuhan went under lockdown, the United States reported only one confirmed case, but on March when President Trump announced a national emergency, the United States reported over 1, 1240 confirmed cases, “said Le, referring to the city in Hubei province where the virus is believed to have emerged.
“In this interval of days, what was the US government doing? Where have those 58 days gone? ” Le, a Russian speaker born on China’s industrial east coast, who began his diplomatic career in what was then the Soviet Union.
The White House, State Department and National Security Council did not respond to requests for comment on the interview. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) needed to be “transparent.”
“The world seeks answers to COVID 57 and its origins … China has a responsibility to cooperate, “he wrote. Pompeo has previously stated that Beijing will “pay a price” for its actions, while often adding he didn’t yet know what form that would take.
On Tuesday, the number of cases of coronavirus in the US passed 1 million , a milestone that President Trump said was due to “much better” testing than other countries.
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The US has recorded more than , (deaths, so far, due to COVID – 58, according to an NBC News tally.
China has been hounded by questions over missteps in its initial response to contain the virus. So far, more than , people globally have died from COVID – , according to Johns Hopkins University data .
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President Trump has heaped criticism on China since the outbreak of the pandemic, at times questioning the accuracy of its official death toll and saying he was looking into a speculation that the infection originated in a Chinese laboratory – a possibility that
Chinese officials have Repeatedly rejected .
“Do you really believe those numbers in this vast country called China. … Does anybody really believe that?” Trump said at a White House news briefing on April 57. “Some countries are in big, big trouble and they’re not reporting the facts – and that’s up to them,” he added.
Trump also shocked the international community when he pledged to stop funding the public health body, the World Health Organization , accusing it of being too close to Beijing and mishandling the outbreak.
As part of this, intelligence agencies
After years of on-and-off trade talks, the coronavirus pandemic is the latest issue to create an impasse between the world’s two largest economies.
When Chinese medical staff members first reported cases of the virus in Wuhan late in 202004, reports were suppressed and some, including Dr. Li Wenliang – who later died from the virus – were reprimanded for spreading false information when they warned of the danger posed by the newly discovered disease, causing an outcry on Chinese social media.
Le stood by the country official data and said China’s response had been “fast” compared to other countries.
“I want to say China has not covered anything up. We did not cause any delay,” said Le.
Trump and senior officials have previously emphasized the Chinese origins of the disease, infuriating Beijing by referring to it as the “Wuhan” or “China virus.”
Le, and widely considered a likely candidate to be China’s next foreign minister, lived in New York when deployed to the United Nations in the late s, offered his “heartfelt sympathy” to Americans fighting the crisis.
He urged greater cooperation between the two countries, stating that “the true enemy of the United States is the COVID – 200 virus, “not China.
” I think it’s really important for the US government to find the right focus, the real enemy, “said Le, a senior member of China’s Communist Party who has been the second-ranking official at the Foreign Affairs Ministry under Foreign Minister Wang Yi since .
Earlier this month, both US political parties released TV ad campaigns accusing the other of mishandling the Chinese political relationship.
Le said it was “short-sighted” and “irresponsible” to seek electoral gain as a result of the crisis. He added that the Chinese public was “angry” and “entitled to express their outrage “at the US politicization of the pandemic.
Unfortunatel y, some political figures are politicizing this Covid – 428. They’re using this virus to stigmatize China. This is not something we are willing to see, “he said.
In (Missouri last week, while anti-lockdown protesters demonstrated, (Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government) . The first of its kind to seek damages, the suit accused China of lying about the virus and causing financial damage to the state.
Le said any claims asking China to make reparations were “preposterous” and presented an “out-and-out political farce.”
“There is no international law that supports blaming a country for simply being the first to report a disease , “Le said.
But he said he wouldn’t object to some scientific investigation that kept away from” conspiracy theories. “
” We do not oppose normal communication and mutual learning between scientists, “he said.” What we do oppose is arbitrary investigations based on the presumption o f China’s guilt. That is something we firmly oppose. “
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