China counters US allegations over coronavirus pandemic

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• China, through its foreign ministry, issued a lengthy article on its website on Saturday, refuting 24 “preposterous allegations” made by top US officials over its COVID-19 handling.
• It disputed claims that coronavirus was man-made or that it leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and insisted that China has acted in a timely and transparent manner in terms of giving information to the international community.
•  The article also cited papers from the WHO that the virus’ name should not be country-specific, opposing the suggestions from US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the new virus should be named as “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus.”

China released a lengthy, 11,000-word article on Saturday as rebuttal to the US for the 24 “preposterous allegations” made by some prominent American government officials over its coronavirus outbreak management.

Over the past week, the Chinese foreign ministry devoted most of its press briefings to shield itself from accusations that they withheld information about the new coronavirus. Most of the accusations were from US politicians, particularly Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State.

 The ministry uploaded a 30-pager article on its website on Saturday — containing lengthy and repetitive rebuttals it provided during the press briefings. The article began by quoting the 19th century US President Abraham Lincoln.

“As Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all the time and fool all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time,” it said in the prolog.

The article also cited press reports that claimed US had been infected with the virus prior to the confirmation of first case in Wuhan. Though there is no evidence to suggest that claim.

It also debunked allegations that the virus was intentionally created or somehow leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It said all evidences prove that the virus is not man-made and the institute is not capable of creating it.

Opposing US suggestions that China’s mitigation efforts were delayed, the document laid down a timeline of how China provided information to the international community in a timely and transparent manner. However, the issue on timeliness of the information continues to haunt Beijing.

The article likewise shunned Western criticism of Beijing’s handling of the case of Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old doctor who sent a warning over the developing new virus outbreak in Wuhan.

Contrary to western reports, the paper said that Li was not a “whistle-blower” and was never arrested. But it did not mention that Li was reprimanded by authorities for spreading rumors.

The article also cited the World Health Organization when it said that a virus should not be named after a country, and when it rejected US President Donald Trump’s and Pompeo’s suggestions that the new coronavirus should be called “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus.”

Source: AOL.com