Coronavirus outbreak: China hopes ‘certain individuals’ in US heed rational calls

In a veiled criticism of US President Donald Trump and other officials, China on March 24 said that it is hoping “certain individuals” can heed rational calls and stop stigmatising China due to the coronavirus outbreak. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson took to Twitter to remind the first priority of the United States during the coronavirus pandemic. 

“For the US, the 1st priority at the moment is to put its own house in order and join China & other countries in the international anti-pandemic battle,” the spokesperson tweeted.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the US had reported only around 10 cases when it banned the entry of foreign nationals who had travelled to China within 14 days. Referring to the surge in numbers of coronavirus cases in the US, the spokesperson questioned what the administration did in 50 days to contain the virus.

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Blame game

US and China have been blaming each other over the pandemic and the war of words has not died down. Earlier, Trump had criticised China saying the world is paying a “very big price” for covering-up the facts on coronavirus. During a press briefing along with the members of White House Coronavirus Task Force, Trump said that if the threats of the virus would have been made public at an earlier stage, the virus could have been contained to the area where it started.

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The White House National Security Council had also put out a tweet criticising Beijing and accused it of suppressing the initial reports of the coronavirus outbreak and its severity which caused Chinese and international experts to miss critical opportunities to prevent a pandemic.

The US President has often called COVID-19 as “Chinese Virus” which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has explicitly advised against it. However, Trump has now has called for the protection of the Asian American community after he was accused of fueling a backlash against them by using such terms.

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