China's envoy to US urges to end ‘blame game’ over coronavirus outbreak

Amid simmering tension between China and the US over coronavirus outbreak, China’s ambassador to Washington has called for an end to the “blame game”. In the Washington Post column, Cui Tankai warned that accusing China over the virus outbreak could lead to the “decoupling” of the world’s two largest economies.

The Chinese envoy emphasised in his published column that it is the time to focus on the disease and rebuild trust between the two countries. Cui’s reaction came after US President Donald Trump, along with his aides, launched an all-out attack on China over the handling of coronavirus and accused them of hiding facts for a long time.

Recently, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said that there is “significant amount” of evidence that the virus originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Without mentioning any name, Cui denounced “conspiracy theories” about China’s geopolitical intentions in the aftermath of the virus outbreak. He also criticised the leaders demanding reparations and said that Wuhan was the first victim of coronavirus and it is ridiculous for asking compensation from a victim.

Read: Top US General Says 'no Conclusive Evidence' On Origin Of Coronavirus

'Groundless accusations'

Last month, the Chinese envoy had taken a veiled swipe at Trump for making “groundless accusations” and ignoring scientific expertise. Speaking at a webcast event organised by Bloomberg News, Ambassador Cui Tiankai said that some politicians are so preoccupied in their efforts for stigmatisation and groundless accusations that they pay little attention to the views of the scientists.

Read: Mike Pompeo's Comment On Origin Of Coronavirus Remains 'speculative': WHO

In stark contrast with Pompeo’s assessment, top US general Mark Milley said that it is still unknown whether the novel coronavirus originated from a wet market or some laboratory in China. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told a news conference on May 5 that the US government is looking into the issue but indicated that it was probably not intentional.

"We don't have conclusive evidence in any of that, but the weight of evidence is that it was probably not intentional," the chairman said.

Read: White House Planning To Disband Coronavirus Task Force, Signals Donald Trump

Read: China Lambasts Mike Pompeo, Calls His Theory Of Virus Origin 'insane'