US-China nearing 'brink of new Cold war', says Chinese govt in unprecedented escalation

US President Donald Trump has been very critical of China’s inability to control the spread of the novel coronavirus within its territory, and over recent weeks, his and his administration's rhetoric against the Xi Jinping-led government has been ratcheted to unprecedented levels. Now, amid this, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that "it is most regrettable that while the deadly virus is still out there, a ‘political virus’ is also spreading in the US and jumping at any opportunity to attack and slander China", going on to make a grevious mention of 'Cold war'. 

While US leaders have dismissed China’s claims that Beijing has acted with transparency in its response to the coronavirus outbreak, Wang Yi said that the two nations have different social systems and the US should give up its wishful thinking of changing China. He also said that it is true that Washington and Beijing have many disagreements, however, he believes that it doesn’t ‘preclude cooperation’. The Chinese foreign minister further added that it’s time for the US to give up stopping the 1.4 billion Chinese people's historical march toward modernization. 

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The Chinese MoFA said, “Some political forces in the US are taking China-US relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War. This is a dangerous attempt to turn back the wheel of history”. Wang Yi also added that China will defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, its legitimate right to development, and its dignity and place in the world which the Chinese people have worked so hard to earn. 

US-China tensions

Tensions between China and the United States are at an all-time high with US President Donald Trump and his administration claiming that the novel coronavirus is a man-made disease and it emerged at a virology laboratory in Wuhan. Health experts have long said that they believe the virus originated at a seafood market in Wuhan, where exotic animals were reportedly being traded illegally. China, on the other hand, has claimed that there is no evidence to suggest that the virus originated at a seafood market and they are yet to establish where actually the disease emerged.

Donald Trump has blown hot and cold on China since before he became President, basing a part of his campaign on stopping China's purportedly inexorable rise to becoming the world's biggest economy, to his constant back-and-forths about the trade deal with China, to his attacks on Huawei. However, the Coronavirus outbreak, which originated in China and has caused the highest death toll worldwide in the US has taken this to a whole new level 

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