China on Myanmar, US criticism over WHO access

China on Tuesday called for international actions conducive to Myanmar's stability instead of "intensifying conflicts and complicating the situation" after President Joe Biden threatened sanctions on Myanmar's military government that arrested the country's civilian leaders in a coup.

Biden assailed the country's army for the coup, calling it a "direct assault on the country's transition to democracy and rule of law."

The coup in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been roundly condemned internationally.

Separately, at the Tuesday briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin refuted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's accusations on China of "falling far short of the mark" when it comes to giving access to WHO experts investigating into origin the COVID-19  pandemic.

Wang said that WHO experts team has given "positive evaluations" on China's cooperation and exchanges.

During an interview with NBC News, Blinken said China's lack of transparency was a "profound problem."

In response, Wang called on the U.S. to invite WHO experts to the U.S. to conduct the virus-tracing investigation so as to "maintain transparency," citing a CDC report that suggests the new coronavirus may have emerged in the U.S. as early as December 2019.

The WHO team, with expertise in veterinarian, virology, food safety and epidemiology, have visited two hospitals and two markets that were centers of the early outbreak as well as the CDC offices of the city of Wuhan and the province of Hubei.

Also, Wang hit back at Blinken's remarks on Hong Kong in the interview, saying the U.S. should "seriously reflect on and correct its wrongdoings" of publicly bolstering lawbreakers in Hong Kong and meddling in China's internal affairs.

Blinken said that the U.S. should accept people fleeing Chinese authority's political repression in Hong Kong, and accused China of acting "egregiously" by imposing the national security law in the city.

Image credit: AP