Beijing - The United States should stop
wasting time in its fight against the coronavirus and work with
China to combat it, rather than spreading lies and attacking the
country, the Chinese government's top diplomat Wang Yi said on
Sunday.
Sino-U.S. ties have nosedived since the outbreak of the new
coronavirus, with the administrations of President Donald Trump
and President Xi Jinping repeatedly trading barbs over issues
related to the pandemic, especially U.S. accusations of
cover-ups and lack of transparency.
The two top economies have also clashed over Hong Kong,
human rights, trade and U.S. support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan.
State Councillor Wang, speaking at his annual news
conference on the sidelines of China's parliament, expressed his
deep sympathies to the United States for the pandemic, where the
death toll is expected to surpass 100,000 in the coming days,
the highest number of any country.
"Regretfully, in addition to the raging coronavirus, a
political virus is also spreading in the United States. This
political virus is using every opportunity to attack and smear
China," said Wang, who is also China's foreign minister.
"Some politicians have ignored the most basic facts and
concocted too many lies about China and plotted too many
conspiracies," he added.
"I want to say here: Don't waste precious time any longer,
and don't ignore lives," Wang said.
"What China and the United States need to do the most is to
first learn from each other and share their experience in
fighting against the epidemic, and help each country fight it."
China and the United States also need to start coordinating
macro policies for their respective economies as well as the
world economy, he added.
China remains prepared to work with the United States in the
spirit of cooperation and mutual respect, Wang said, when asked
if Sino-U.S. relations would further worsen.
"China has always advocated that, as the world's largest
developing country and the largest developed country, both of us
bear a major responsibility for world peace and development," he
said. "China and the United States stand to gain from
cooperation, and lose from confrontation."
'INDISCRIMINATE LITIGATION'
Last month, Missouri became the first U.S. state to sue the
Chinese government over its handling of the coronavirus, saying
China's response to the outbreak that originated in the city of
Wuhan brought devastating economic losses to the state.
Wang said such lawsuits lacked any legal basis.
"The China of today is not the China of a century ago, and
nor is the world," he added.
"If you want to infringe upon China's sovereignty and
dignity with indiscriminate litigation, and extort the fruits of
the hard work of the Chinese people, I am afraid this is a
daydream and you'll only humiliate yourself."
Wang also offered his strong support for the World Health
Organization (WHO) and its chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
frequent targets of U.S criticism.
"To support the WHO is to support saving lives. This is the
choice any country with a conscience should make," he said.
Trump, who has accused the agency of being "China centric",
has threatened to permanently halt funding to the WHO and to
reconsider his country's membership of the agency.