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Beijing has lashed out at Washington, saying some US politicians had “used the epidemic situation to smear China”. Photo: Reuters

Coronavirus: China accuses US of ‘dark mentality and dangerous action’

  • Commentary in Communist Party mouthpiece takes aim at travel restrictions and politicians using epidemic to ‘smear China’
  • It also slams Washington for delay in delivering promised funds to combat the outbreak
Beijing has accused Washington of dragging its feet on a funding pledge to help counter the deadly coronavirus epidemic, and of using the public health emergency to “smear China”.

People’s Daily, a mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, published a commentary on Monday slamming Washington for its “dark mentality and dangerous action” during the outbreak, which originated in central China.

The commentary under the pen name Zhong Sheng – a homonym in Chinese for the “voice of China” – also hit out at Washington’s latest foreign aid budget proposal that would halve US funding to the World Health Organisation, which has led international efforts to combat the pneumonia-like virus.

And it targeted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s tweet on February 8 that the US would provide an additional US$100 million to “support China in combating the coronavirus”, on top of hundreds of millions already donated, in a commitment that “demonstrates strong US leadership in response to the outbreak”.

US officials said in a briefing two days later that Washington was willing to spend up to a ceiling of US$100 million to fight the new coronavirus, without providing a detailed breakdown, and that protective goggles and surgical gowns had been sent to Laos, which borders China to the south. James Richardson, the State Department’s director of foreign assistance, said the US “is the largest donor overall to global health around the world” and that it could assist bilaterally as well as through multilateral organisations such as the WHO.

The commentary said if the US “genuinely wants to help Laos and other Southeast Asian countries fight the epidemic, there is naturally nothing wrong with that since this is a public health challenge that the world collectively needs to face”, and that constructive cooperation should be welcomed.

“That said, it must be pointed out that the implementation of this aid has clearly deviated from the initial ‘bold words’ [of the announcement].

“And under this urgent epidemic situation, the delay in implementation details for US promises of aid funding does not fit with this so-called ‘strong leadership’,” it said. “Why did the US switch from a high-profile announcement to something more ambiguous and low-key?”

The piece also took aim at the US government’s decision to temporarily ban travellers from China, despite the WHO saying such restrictions were not needed, and what it called the propagation of conspiracy theories by some US politicians it said had “used the epidemic situation to smear China”.

US health officials have defended a strict ban on travellers from mainland China, which began on February 2, as a necessary move to limit the spread of the virus to the United States and to allow sufficient time to prepare against a pandemic.

“This kind of dark mentality and dangerous action shows not only a deviation from the claimed ‘strong leadership’ from the US but is also a far cry from humanity’s shared standards for civilisation,” the commentary said.

“[It’s] an important reminder that in today’s world of deep global interconnectedness, extinguishing someone else’s candle will only burn one’s own beard,” it added.

Beijing has been vocally critical of Washington in recent months as their strategic rivalry has intensified, with Chinese state media rolling out commentaries to blast the US for the trade war and its support for Taiwan, and conflicts over ideology and human rights. On Thursday, another People’s Daily piece by Zhong Sheng described the rhetoric of “some US politicians” as “taking advantage of China’s precarious situation and attacking the country when it is in a difficult time”.

Beijing has called for all-out efforts in its “war” against the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which causes a disease officially known as Covid-19, and had infected more than 70,000 people across the country and killed 1,770 as of Monday.
In contrast to its treatment of the US, Chinese media has lauded aid and support from countries such as Japan and Canada during the crisis, which Canadian media has described as “driving a sudden thaw” after months of frosty bilateral relations.

US officials have also raised concerns about Beijing’s management of the outbreak, and have said their offers to send American health experts into China with a WHO-led team were not accepted.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters on Thursday that the US was “a little disappointed that we haven’t been invited in, and we’re a little disappointed in the lack of transparency coming from the Chinese”.

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