China asks United States to not treat it as enemy in fight against COVID-19

China’s Foreign Ministry said that Beijing is not an enemy of the United States and called for international unity in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang reportedly said that attacking and smearing China wouldn’t win back wasted time or lost lives and asked the US to stop making “irresponsible remarks”.

During a press briefing on April 20, Geng reportedly said that the US should focus more on domestic containment and international cooperation instead of attacking and blaming China for the virus outbreak. He added that the international community should band together to cooperate instead of pointing fingers at each other even demanding compensation.

China’s aggressive response came after the International Council of Jurists (ICJ) moved to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) seeking an unspecified amount of reparations. The ICJ said that China caused “serious physical, economic and social harm” by unleashing the deadly virus on the world.

Read: China Rejects Trump’s Demand To Allow US Team To Wuhan To Probe Coronavirus

'China is a victim': Geng

US President Donald Trump has also been blaming China for concealing the facts from the world and demanded Beijing to allow an American team into Wuhan to investigate the origin of coronavirus. However, Geng firmly rejected the demand saying China is a "victim" of coronavirus and not a "culprit".

Read: Mike Pompeo Says 'not The Time For Retribution' Against China Over Coronavirus

During a White House press briefing on coronavirus, US State Secretary Mike Pompeo had opined that China should have shared their data sooner saying every country has the obligation to share that information timely and accurately. Pompeo said that there is still time for clarity and transparency over COVID-19 as researchers are still working on the problem and they need accurate data to perform their analysis related to therapeutics and vaccine. 

“They need to share their data, we share ours with the world so that the best scientists can get to the right conclusion and bring this global economy back to the place,” said the State Secretary.

Read: China Reports 12 New Coronavirus Infections Including 8 Imported Cases

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