China critic Bolsonaro links coronavirus pandemic to ‘biological warfare’ as Brazil’s death toll soars
- Brazil’s president makes suggestive comments about the origins of coronavirus
- The far-right leader has a history of inflammatory comments on China
President Jair Bolsonaro said the novel coronavirus may have been made in a laboratory to wage “biological warfare”, in the latest comments likely to strain Brazil’s relations with China.
“It’s a new virus. Nobody knows whether it was born in a laboratory or because a human ate some animal they shouldn’t have,” said the far-right leader.
“But the military knows all about chemical, biological and radiological warfare. Could we be fighting a new war? I wonder. Which country’s GDP has grown the most?”
He did not name China, but the country where the pandemic began was the only G20 economy to grow last year, notching a 2.3 per cent expansion.
Bolsonaro and his inner circle have a history of inflammatory comments on China that have sometimes aggravated relations with Brazil’s biggest trading partner.
In March, the president replaced former foreign minister Ernesto Araujo, who had denounced “Maoist China” and its plan for “world domination”, with career diplomat Carlos Franca.
The move was widely seen as aimed at mending ties.
