COVID-19: Trump holds 'very good conversation' with China's Xi; decide to 'work together'

US President Donald Trump announced that he held a 'very good conversation' with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to discuss the Coronavirus outbreak in 'great detail.' With 85,594 cases of infection, the US has now overtaken the virus hotspots China and Italy, according to a tracker run by Johns Hopkins University.

Elaborating on the telephonic conversation, Trump claimed that China has developed a 'strong understanding' of the Coronavirus. Moreover, the US President notified that the two countries are 'working closely together' to deal with the global health crisis. 

He said, "Just finished a very good conversation with President Xi of China. Discussed in great detail the CoronaVirus that is ravaging large parts of our Planet. China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the Virus. We are working closely together. Much respect!" [sic]

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'Chinese virus' jibe

The phone-call may be perceived as a thaw between the US, China relationship, however, in the past Trump had criticised the Chinese establishment of being 'very secretive' about Coronavirus. Trump told international media that the US and the world would have better prepared only if China had given an 'advance warning' about the health crisis. 

The telephonic conversation comes after the US President repeatedly branded the Coronavirus as 'Chinese virus' and further justified it. Asked why he keeps calling Coronavirus as 'Chinese virus' when scientists say the disease doesn't respect borders and is not caused by ethnicity, Trump told reporters at the White House that he doesn't consider it a racist remark. “It’s not racist at all," Trump said, adding that he calls it the “Chinese virus” because he wants to be accurate. 

A class-action suit has been filed in a district court in the United States seeking US$20 trillion from China for the “creation and release, accidental or otherwise, of the virus known as COVID-19 by China and its agencies”. The petition says that China created and released the COVID-19 virus as a “biological weapon in violation of China’s agreements under the international law”.

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