Beijing lashes out, accuses US of trying to shift focus from its 'poor epidemic prevention and control measures' by blaming China for Covid-19 spread
In this file photo, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang takes a question from a journalist during the daily press briefing of the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, China, March 18, 2020.
But Beijing came out swinging on Tuesday in response to foreign criticism, saying the US was attacking China to divert attention from its own handling of the outbreak. "They have only one objective: shirk their responsibility for their own poor epidemic prevention and control measures, and divert public attention," he added.
"We are not happy with China," Trump said at a White House briefing. "We are not happy with that whole situation because we believe it could have been stopped at the source." There have been nearly a million infections with more than 56,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the United States and the pandemic has shut down swathes of the economy.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing later suggested it may have been the US military which brought the virus to Wuhan — prompting angry claims from Trump that China was spreading misinformation.
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