On Saturday, the United States President Donald Trump continued his word battle against China regarding the novel coronavirus outbreak across the world as he warned of consequences if China is found ‘knowingly responsible’ for the pandemic.
In a pandemic that has seen over 160,000 deaths and counting, the two biggest economies of the world, China, where the virus first broke, and the US, where it has been worst hit, has involved in word war that is close in turning into a cold war of sorts. Speaking at his regular White House Briefing, Donald Trump said that the virus could have been stopped in China but it wasn’t and hence, the world is suffering.
Ever since the outbreak has hit the United States severely, President Trump and his aides have continued to accuse China of a lack of transparency over the handling of the pandemic. Last week, the United States went a step ahead to stop its funding to the World Health Organisation for being ‘China-centric.’
Trump Continues to Blame Beijing
While few Chinese officials had blamed the origin of the virus on the US military, the United States officials including Donald Trump has shown no hesitation in calling the virus as ‘Chinese Virus’ although Trump had initially praised the Xi Jinping government’s effort in handling the pandemic. The two biggest economies have been involved in a scuffle at a time when experts around the world are calling for cooperation to get through the crisis of COVID-19.
While there is legitimacy in some of the accusations made on China’s handling of the crisis, Trump’s domestic critics say that the President is strongly banking on anti-China sentiment among the citizens to win the elections. Trump’s accusations on Beijing has clouded his shortcomings in handling the pandemic.
In his daily briefing, Trump invoked the theory of the virus being prepared in the Wuhan laboratory and said that the US government would be investigating the theory. Trump warned about consequences if China is found guilty of causing the pandemic but refused to elaborate on the possible consequences. However, the White House is also wary of the fact that the US is heavily dependent on China for the personal protective equipment that has been in global demand as the crisis deepens.
Source: Livemint
