After India's FDI move, Trump warns China if it was 'knowingly responsible' for Covid

Amid worldwide Covid crisis, the US President Donald Trump has warned China of consequences if it was "knowingly responsible" for the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at the White House press briefing on Saturday, Trump said that the death rate of China is higher than that of US, 'but no one is reporting it.' Alleging 'non-transparency and initial non-cooperation', Trump expressed his disappointment over China on the handling of the coronavirus disease, adding that the relationship with the country was very good before the outbreak of the virus. 

"If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences," he told reporters at a White House news conference on Saturday. "You're talking about, you know, potentially lives like nobody's seen since 1917. The relationship was good when we were signing that, but then, all of a sudden, you hear about this. So, it's a big difference. You know, the question was asked would you be angry at China. Well, the answer very well might be a very resounding, yes, but it depends," Trump said.

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The president underlined that there was a big difference between a mistake that got out of control or something is done deliberately. "In either event, they should have let us go in. You know, we asked to go in very early and they didn't want us in. I think they knew it was something bad and I think they were embarrassed," Trump said.

Meanwhile, on April 19, India amended the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy to ensure no hostile takeover of firms facing stress due to ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. According to the amendment, neighbouring countries - including China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan will require government approval for investing in Indian companies. 

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Trump had warned of consequences

Earlier on April 14, when asked about the consequences for China, a visibly irked Trump asked the reporter as to how she knows there "won't be consequences for China." Trump went on to say that China will find out the consequences as and when it happens. The US President has openly blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic and has reused the term “Chinese virus.” “The world is paying a very big price for that they did,” Trump had said in early March, referring to his claim that Chinese officials did not fully share information sooner about the coronavirus outbreak after it began in China. He has also halt US funding to the World Health Organization blaming it to be '"very much sided" towards China.

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The United States till Sunday reported a total number of 738,792 cases 39,014 deaths. New York City remains the most affected by the coronavirus. The novel Coronavirus, which has brought the entire world to a halt, first originated in China in December last year, has till now killed over 160,755 people worldwide.

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