‘Aside from the devastation caused by the novel coronavirus, there is also a political virus spreading through the US,’ Chinese foreign Minister said at a press conference.
In the past few weeks, President of US DonaldTrump has been very critical and vocal of China’s inability to control the spread of the novel coronavirus within its territory. (Representational image: iStock)
The war of words between China and United States seems to not end any time soon, with the fresh accusations by the Chinese Foreign Minister saying that America is pushing relations with China to “the brink of a new Cold War.”
As the tensions between the two sides soaring over coronavirus, Hong Kong’s status and other issues foreign minister Wang Yi told reporters, “It has come to our attention that some political forces in the US are taking China-US relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War.”
With the two world powers not seeing each other eye-to-eye on many matter, be it trade, human rights and many other issues have been pushed to new heights since the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Although Wang did not take names of any “forces” but US President Donald Trump has led world criticism of China’s initial response to the pandemic, which has caused more than 330,000 deaths and economic carnage worldwide. But he hit back at Washington, accusing it of seeking to repeatedly “attack and smear” China.
“This political virus is the use of every opportunity to attack and smear China. Some politicians completely disregard basic facts and have fabricated too many lies targeting China, and plotted too many conspiracies,” he added.
China on Friday introduced in its legislature a proposal to impose a security law in Hong Kong to suppress the semi-autonomous city’s pro-democracy movement has further raised the temperature, drawing US and world condemnation.
In the past few weeks, President of US DonaldTrump has been very critical and vocal of China’s inability to control the spread of the novel coronavirus within its territory.
On Thursday, Trump had said that the deadly novel Coronavirus came from China and the we are not going to take it lightly.
Last week, Trump said that he does not want to talk to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping right now, indicating his displeasure at the Chinese leadership’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak which has now spread across the world.
On Thursday, Senators Ted Cruz and Rick Scott, along Mike Braun, Marsha Blackburn, Joni Ernst, Martha McSally and Tom Cotton, introduced the COVID-19 Vaccine Protection Act to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from stealing or sabotaging American COVID-19 vaccine research.
The bill requires a thorough national security evaluation and clearance by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of all Chinese student visa holders taking part in activities related to COVID-19 vaccine research.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Protection Act, among others requires an enhanced vetting of nationals of the Chinese nationals in the US as nonimmigrants under F, J, or M student visas to determine if any student visa holders are a national security threat.
Earlier, the Department of Justice expanded rules to prevent Huawei from undermining US export controls, closing a loophole that has allowed the company to exploit US technology and threaten national security.
Trump had threatened China with fresh tariffs as he stepped up his attacks on Beijing over the COVID-19 crisis, saying he had seen evidence linking a Wuhan lab to the contagion, which has infected at least millions of people so far.
On Wednesday, the US leader had said that China’s incompetence is responsible for the “mass worldwide killing”.
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