Coronavirus: US and China reignite their war of words, this time in Europe

US ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra says Beijing’s misreporting of fatality rates had caused Washington to misjudge the global health crisis

Chinese envoy responds by saying ‘there are a lot of good things in the United States we can learn from’ but Hoekstra isn’t one of them

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As medical workers battle Covid-19 around the world, ambassadors from China and the US continue to play the blame game. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:00pm, 4 Apr 2020Updated: 11:17pm, 4 Apr 2020

China and the United States have reignited their war of words over the Covid-19 pandemic, with their respective ambassadors to the Netherlands engaging in a public dispute that began with an allegation that Beijing had not been transparent in its coverage of the health crisis.

In an interview with Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad published on Friday, US ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra said Beijing’s lack of accuracy in its reporting of fatality rates had caused Washington to misjudge the situation.

“What are the real mortality rates in China? How many people are really infected? We hope that at some point the world will have confidence that the information from China is accurate,” he said.

US ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra accused China of misreporting on the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: AFP

Beijing should also take note of the cooperation shown between the US and Europe, Hoekstra said.

“What China can learn from this is how well the US and Europe are working together in this crisis. We want to understand exactly what is happening and share all the information,” he said.

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