U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has cranked up the heat on China. As Pompeo officially warned his Chinese counterpart against spreading “outlandish rumors” about the coronavirus pandemic. That expressed on Monday in a phone call with Yang Jiechi, director of China’s Office of Foreign Affairs.
“Secretary Pompeo conveyed strong U.S. objections to PRC efforts to shift blame for COVID-19 to the United States,” Morgan Ortagus, State Department spokeswoman said in a statement. “The Secretary stressed that this is not the time to spread disinformation and outlandish rumors, but rather a time for all nations to come together to fight this common threat.”
This follows a stern discussion last Friday when the State Department summoned the Chinese ambassador after a spokesperson with China’s foreign ministry suggested the U.S. military might have brought coronavirus to Wuhan.
“When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!” Chinese Foreign Ministry official Zhao Lijian wrote.
“Spreading conspiracy theories is dangerous and ridiculous,” a State Department official told Reuters. “We wanted to put the government on notice we won’t tolerate it for the good of the Chinese people and the world.”
Pompeo also posted on Twitter and took an accusatory tone vs. Beijing, “Spoke today with Director Yang Jiechi about disinformation and outlandish rumors that are being spread through official PRC channels.”
Spoke today with Director Yang Jiechi about disinformation and outlandish rumors that are being spread through official PRC channels.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) March 16, 2020
In addition, “The United States is sparing no effort to protect our people and contain the global #coronavirus pandemic. Beijing must acknowledge its role and be part of the solution.”
The United States is sparing no effort to protect our people and contain the global #coronavirus pandemic. Beijing must acknowledge its role and be part of the solution.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) March 16, 2020
While White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien stated that, “Unfortunately, rather than using best practices, this outbreak in Wuhan was covered up.” Then claimed, “There’s lots of open-source reporting from China, from Chinese nationals, that the doctors involved were either silenced or put in isolation or that sort of thing, so that the word of this virus could not get out.”
Ten days ago the World Health Organization would announce in a press release: “China and other countries are demonstrating that spread of the virus can be slowed and impact reduced through the use of universally applicable actions, such as working across society to identify people who are sick, bringing them to care, following up on contacts, preparing hospitals and clinics to manage a surge in patients, and training health workers.”
As wire service Reuters reported:
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday that in the phone call Yang told Pompeo that attempts to smear China’s efforts to control the coronavirus “will not succeed” and that actions that harmed China’s interests would be retaliated against.
Beijing was criticized for initially attempting to censor some Chinese doctors who sounded an alarm over the virus. Since January, it has imposed draconian containment measures, effectively locking down Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province, home to 60 million people.
Pompeo, who has sharply criticized Beijing on a number of issues from its trade practices to religious freedoms, has complained that the U.S. response had been hindered by what he called imperfect data from Beijing.
Diplomatic relations between the two super powers now appear to be in a very dangerous place.
