President Trump blasted China at a news conference earlier this week for claiming the coronavirus came from the U.S. military. He told reporters, “China was putting out information, which was false, that our military gave this to them. That was false. And rather than having an argument, I have to call it where it came from. It did come from China.”
Now, China’s state run, propaganda news agency Xinhua has accused Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien of infecting the conversation with a “political virus” against China.
When asked by reporters if labeling COVID-19 a “Chinese virus” creates a stigma, Trump put the partisan reporter in his place. “No, I don’t think so. I think saying that our military gave it to them creates a stigma.”
The Communist Chinese government took issue with the President’s characterization of the illness, saying it is “strongly indignant” to use this kind of stigmatization. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang demanded the U.S. “immediately stop its unjustified accusations against China.”
China has shown little cooperation since the outbreak began in Wuhan. The first cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in mid-December, but China’s President Xi Jinping did not address the nation about it until a month later, in mid to late January.
Since then, the Chinese Communist government continues to dispute the origins of the virus. A foreign ministry spokesman redirected blame, claiming with no evidence that the U.S. military may have brought the virus to his country.
Watch the video and see what Vice President Mike Pence had to say about the President’s early decision to close travel to China.
