China accuses US lawmakers of 'telling barefaced lies' over COVID-19 response

In the latest development in US-China tiff over coronavirus outbreak, China has accused the lawmakers in the United States of ‘telling barefaced lies’ over its response to the pandemic. This comes after US President Donald Trump threatened that Washington would seek the damages done to its economy by the pandemic from Beijing. According to reports, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said in a press briefing on April 28 that American politicians have only one main motive, that is to “shirk their responsibility for their own poor epidemic prevention and control measures and divert public attention”.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his disappointment over the Chinese government’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and accused them of discrepancies. The US President had said earlier that “we are not happy with China” and added that the outbreak, which originated in China’s Wuhan, “could have been stopped at the source”. Further blaming the mainland for spreading the pandemic to over 200 countries around the world, Trump said there were many methods to hold China accountable. This further prompted the Chinese government to give a befitting reply and even posted the “growing doubts” regarding the spread of the disease in the US.

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China calls itself 'victim' of disinformation

While pressure continues to mount on China over the ‘unreliability’ in its numbers of coronavirus cases and infections, its foreign ministry spokesperson has said that the mainland has not initiated any misinformation. During the daily press briefing, while answering a question about a report by the European Union that stated China was spreading disinformation, Shuang reportedly said on April 27 that China is not “instigator” of such information but a “victim” of disinformation. 

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Image Source: AP