US Senator releases 18-point plan to hold China accountable for COVID-19

A top US Senator released a detailed 18-point plan to hold China accountable for COVID-19 outbreak, which includes enhancing military ties with India. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said that the United States should seek reparation from the Chinese government and impose sanctions for “lying about the virus”.

Some of the prominent suggestions, made by Tillin in the detailed plan, are moving American manufacturing back to the US from China and strengthen military ties with India, Taiwan, and Vietnam to help build a counter-balance to rising Chinese power. It also called for ensuring the independence of the World Health Organisation (WHO) through investigations and reform.

“The first objective is to hold the Chinese government directly accountable for allowing COVID-19 to become a global pandemic and then trying to cover it up,” wrote Tillis while detailing the plan.

The Senator said that the other objective of the plan is to contain the Chinese government from overtaking the United States as the “world’s top superpower”. Calling it “one of the largest cover-ups” in modern history, Tillis accused Beijing of knowingly allowing the spread of COVID-19 outside China and lying to the world in order to avoid international embarrassment.

“The United States must hold China accountable for their lies, deception, and malicious actions before, during, and after this pandemic,” said the Republican Senator.

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'Sacrificed own citizens'

In the scathing introduction of the 18-point plan, Tillis said that the Chinese government sacrificed its own citizens by refusing to inform vulnerable people of the risk of human transmission. He added that the Chinese Communist Party deliberately denied and downplayed the potential for human to human transmission, despite having clear evidence to the contrary.

The plan has detailed the timeline of the alleged cover-up starting from November 17, 2019, when the earliest case of COVID-19 was traced to a Chinese resident. It also accused China of ordering a halt on testing and destruction of samples. The US Senate has already passed a bill related to the rights of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang region of China to toughen America’s response on the brutal crackdown.

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