U.S. summons Chinese envoy over Beijing's coronavirus comments

[rooster59]

U.S. summons Chinese envoy over Beijing's coronavirus comments

By Humeyra Pamuk and David Brunnstrom

 

FILE PHOTO: China's ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai responds to reporters questions during an interview with Reuters in Washington, U.S., November 6, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Bourg/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department summoned the Chinese ambassador to the United States on Friday to protest against comments by Beijing suggesting the U.S. military might have brought the coronavirus to Wuhan, as tensions between the two global powers over the outbreak intensified.

 

David Stillwell, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, delivered a very "stern representation" to China's ambassador Cui Tiankai, a State Department official said, adding that Beijing's envoy was "very defensive."

 

The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said China was seeking to deflect criticism of its role in "starting a global pandemic and not telling the world."

 

"Spreading conspiracy theories is dangerous and ridiculous. We wanted to put the government on notice we won't tolerate it for the good of the Chinese people and the world."

 

Defence Department Spokeswoman Alyssa Farah wrote on Twitter on Friday that "the Communist Party of China has chosen to promulgate false & absurd conspiracy theories about the origin of COVID-19 blaming U.S. service members.

#ChinaPropaganda"

 

The virus, also called COVID-19, has infected 138,000 people worldwide and killed more than 5,000.

China's embassy did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Despite the signs of tension, U.S. President Donald Trump praised Beijing on Friday for its "data sharing".

 

Asked by a reporter during a White House news conference about "odd narratives" being offered by some Chinese officials, Trump appeared to brush off any concern, saying he had read one article on the subject, but that he did not think it was representative of his discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

 

Trump, who in a national address this week called the outbreak a "foreign virus" that started in China, added: "They know where it came from, we all know where it came from."

 

Tensions escalated after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian took to Twitter on Thursday.

 

"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!" Zhao tweeted in English.

 

The episode is the latest in an increasing war of words between Washington and Beijing, whose already strained ties over issues including trade, intellectual property rights and press freedom have further been tested by the virus outbreak.

 

The coronavirus, which emerged in China in December, has spread around the world, pummelling financial markets, halting industry, bringing some flights to a standstill, closing schools and forcing the postponement of sports events and concerts.

 

Zhao's comments came days after Robert O'Brien, the U.S. national security adviser, said China had reacted slowly to the coronavirus, probably costing the world two months when it could have been preparing.

 

Wuhan was ground zero for the outbreak, which the World Health Organization this week labelled a pandemic. It has infected more than 127,000 people worldwide, including nearly 81,000 in mainland China, and killed more than 5,000 people.

 

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.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has complained that the U.S. response had been hindered by what he called imperfect data from Beijing.

 

He and several other U.S. politicians have angered Beijing by referring to the "Wuhan virus." In a national address on Wednesday, Trump called the outbreak a "foreign virus" that started in China.

 

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and David Brunnstrom, Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Idrees Ali; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-14

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[pmarlin]

What where are the anti-american posters supporting the lying Chinese SOB

[seeyoujimmy]

China did try and cover up the virus at the start, but when the world new about it the USA did nothing because you have a a**h*** running the country, and is now trying to blame anyone else but himself, you can't fix stupid.

[Bluespunk]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has complained that the U.S. response had been hindered by what he called imperfect data from Beijing.

 

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Despite the signs of tension, U.S. President Donald Trump praised Beijing on Friday for its "data sharing".

Make your minds up boys. 

[Bluespunk]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Trump appeared to brush off any concern, saying he had read one article on the subject,

trump read something? Yeah right...

Edited March 14, 2020 by Bluespunk

[Bluespunk]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

 

The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said China was seeking to deflect criticism of its role in "starting a global pandemic and not telling the world."

 

"Spreading conspiracy theories is dangerous and ridiculous

Such as calling covid-19 a plot by the media to derail a re-election campaign?

[JustAnotherHun]

 

Beijing suggesting the U.S. military might have brought the coronavirus to Wuhan

 

I knew that! Everything evil comes from the US and if not from them, then from the bad bad western world.

[Dumbastheycome]

This is the resulting wrongful statements in retaliation for the sweeping unsubstantiated generalizations, accusations, and conspiracy theory allegations generated and perpetuated from many sources in the west almost since day one ! Little if anything has been made in attempt to present the well recorded events and the timeline of the Chinese reaction to the discovery of this new virus in favor of allowing the general Media to encourage populist negativity towards China. That is despite the WHO affirming that the Chinese  authorities acted appropriately once the virus was recognized. The story of the "martyred" Doctor who eventually became a victim is a distortion of facts. He was an Ophthalmologist who was censured for distributing information to colleagues on the same day qualified Virologists made their report of suspicions to higher authorities. He was never threatened, just told  not  to make  further statements  about a subject he had no expertise in. Sadly he contracted the infection from one of his  own patients who at that time was an unknown infectious source.

Ignored is that while again it is convenient to vilify the Chinese inhabitants of Wuhan as some disgusting representation of all China it is still a mystery about "Patient zero" who had  nothing to do with the market.

Perhaps this  link may be of enlightenment  to some?

  https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200302-coronavirus-what-can-we-learn-from-the-spanish-flu

.The  Chinese Envoy would  have been best to say nothing such as he has but he  at least has  reserved the defense of it being a  "suggestion"  rather than an accusation.

 

 

 

 

 

[edwinchester]

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

trump read something? Yeah right...

Maybe it was translated into a cartoon.

[animalmagic]

3 hours ago, pmarlin said:

What where are the anti-american posters supporting the lying Chinese SOB

I'm certainly not anti American, and I do not support liars.

Don't care where the lying SOB's come from.

[spiekerjozef]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

comments by Beijing suggesting the U.S. military might have brought the coronavirus to Wuhan

they did !

[spiekerjozef]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Trump, who in a national address this week called the outbreak a "foreign virus" that started in China, added: "They know where it came from, we all know where it came from."

From the US military

[Sakeopete]

Interesting enough about a  year ago I believe Canada had an incident where Chinese scientists at the Winnipeg research lab stole samples and took them to the Wuhan lab. Canada denies any Corona virus was taken but where there is smoke there is fire.

[yellowboat]

News reports weeks ago show Wuhan on lock down, not Duluth, not Albuquerque, not East St. Louis, not Terre haute.   It was all about Wuhan.  

 

Forums in Taiwan have been getting misinformation in the form of simplified characters and in the form of idioms not use there about the virus. 

 

It is time for a great power that has been around for thousands of years to show some dignity. 

[topt]

38 minutes ago, spiekerjozef said:

they did !

 

36 minutes ago, spiekerjozef said:

From the US military

How, Why?

 

Please give some "credible" citations or are you on a wind up.......

[rvaviator]

22 minutes ago, Sakeopete said:

Interesting enough about a  year ago I believe Canada had an incident where Chinese scientists at the Winnipeg research lab stole samples and took them to the Wuhan lab. Canada denies any Corona virus was taken but where there is smoke there is fire.

You 'believe' or you can provide a credible link to show us how you came to have that belief ?

[Logosone]

Did they serve monkeybrains and batsoup at that meeting?

 

 

 

[Bluespunk]

38 minutes ago, Sakeopete said:

Interesting enough about a  year ago I believe Canada had an incident where Chinese scientists at the Winnipeg research lab stole samples and took them to the Wuhan lab. Canada denies any Corona virus was taken but where there is smoke there is fire.

And where there isn’t there’s neither.
 

Sometimes the fog of misinformation is interpreted as smoke

[legend49]

And David said I will huff and puff and blow your house down, LOL.

[JustAnotherHun]

1 hour ago, spiekerjozef said:

From the US military

...and Satan Trump gave the order

[jany123]

1 hour ago, Sakeopete said:

Interesting enough about a  year ago I believe Canada had an incident where Chinese scientists at the Winnipeg research lab stole samples and took them to the Wuhan lab. Canada denies any Corona virus was taken but where there is smoke there is fire.

What?.... are you saying that you believe lax security in Canada is responsible for the corona virus spread, because the Canadians have the corona virus already, which the Chinese stole?

 

 

 

 

[Isaan sailor]

China lies, and then tries to blame others.  We've seen this movie before.

[Krataiboy]

Smoke without fire? Judge for yourself from one of the numerous alternative media sources which have been running the story for last couple of days.

 

https://www.ibtimes.sg/us-military-brought-coronavirus-china-top-official-refers-military-games-wuhan-2019-40911

 

[Zack61]

1 hour ago, Isaan sailor said:

China lies, and then tries to blame others.  We've seen this movie before.

Yes. In Iraq. WMD

[JustAnotherHun]

[Benmart]

8 hours ago, seeyoujimmy said:

China did try and cover up the virus at the start, but when the world new about it the USA did nothing because you have a a**h*** running the country, and is now trying to blame anyone else but himself, you can't fix stupid.

After reading your post, I agree that one cannot fix stupid.

[Expat Brad]

8 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

This is the resulting wrongful statements in retaliation for the sweeping unsubstantiated generalizations, accusations, and conspiracy theory allegations generated and perpetuated from many sources in the west almost since day one ! Little if anything has been made in attempt to present the well recorded events and the timeline of the Chinese reaction to the discovery of this new virus in favor of allowing the general Media to encourage populist negativity towards China. That is despite the WHO affirming that the Chinese  authorities acted appropriately once the virus was recognized. The story of the "martyred" Doctor who eventually became a victim is a distortion of facts. He was an Ophthalmologist who was censured for distributing information to colleagues on the same day qualified Virologists made their report of suspicions to higher authorities. He was never threatened, just told  not  to make  further statements  about a subject he had no expertise in. Sadly he contracted the infection from one of his  own patients who at that time was an unknown infectious source.

Ignored is that while again it is convenient to vilify the Chinese inhabitants of Wuhan as some disgusting representation of all China it is still a mystery about "Patient zero" who had  nothing to do with the market.

Perhaps this  link may be of enlightenment  to some?

  https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200302-coronavirus-what-can-we-learn-from-the-spanish-flu

.The  Chinese Envoy would  have been best to say nothing such as he has but he  at least has  reserved the defense of it being a  "suggestion"  rather than an accusation.

 

 

 

 

 

I agree, and at this point nothing would surprise me. We really need to know who patient number one was and where they contracted it and where they came from. I am sorry to say this but, America is at war with China. Albeit an economic one. Anything is possible when your losing your Number 1 position in the world!!!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

Smoke without fire? Judge for yourself from one of the numerous alternative media sources which have been running the story for last couple of days.

 

https://www.ibtimes.sg/us-military-brought-coronavirus-china-top-official-refers-military-games-wuhan-2019-40911

 

 

Yes, there have been claims like that coming from China.... entirely without any proof or evidence of the claim being made.

 

[JustAnotherHun]

Unbelievable ????

The US start their bio weapon to hit China, then they are to stupid to stop the outbreak before their own people get infected while not having an antidot.

They must be even more moronic than Thai generals.

Where's my tinfoil hat?

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by JustAnotherHun

[Traubert]

15 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity,

Credibilty zero. The Yanks got eaten.