Chinese President Jinping says China and US must 'unite to fight virus' in call with Trump

Chinese President Xi Jinping called to 'unite' during a telephonic conversation with his US counterpart Donald Trump. The Chinese media provided a brief gist of the telephonic conversation between the two leaders. 

Xi Jinping said that China and the US must 'unite to fight' Coronavirus in the call with Donald Trump, Chinese state media said. In contrast, the US President tweeted that he had a 'very good conversation' with his Chinese counterpart, hours after raising speculations on the number of cases shared by China. 

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. 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.

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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]

'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. 

In response, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijan whisked a conspiracy, saying that the Coronavirus was 'brought to Wuhan by US army.'"It might be the US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US ower us an explanation!" the Chinese government official tweeted on March 13. 

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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