Pompeo lambasted for ploy to deflect criticism

The US official who insisted on slandering China’s efforts in combating the novel coronavirus pandemic is trying to divert attention from Washington’s own domestic contagion situation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Thursday.

The remarks came after United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo failed to persuade the Group of Seven members to include the term “Wuhan virus” in a joint statement following a videoconference of G7 foreign ministers on Wednesday.

Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, Pompeo also attacked China’s political system, saying the Communist Party of China “poses a substantial threat to our health and way of life, as the Wuhan virus outbreak clearly has demonstrated”.

Geng told reporters at a regular news conference in Beijing, “We strongly condemn what Pompeo said.” He reiterated that the origin of the novel coronavirus is a complicated scientific matter that requires professional assessment.

There is clear consensus by the World Health Organization and the international community that a virus should not be linked to any specific country or region, and stigmatization should be rejected, Geng said.

He added that as the virus spreads around the world and the epidemic situation in the US worsens, US politicians who repeatedly provoke disputes and disrupt international cooperation on contagion control, instead of concentrating on preventing the spread of the virus within their own nation’s borders, are behaving in morally questionable ways.

“It will not help the situation in the US to divert attention,” Geng said, urging Pompeo to stop following the wrong path.

“Otherwise, his hypocrisy and vicious intention will only be further exposed, thus arousing more indignation and opposition from the Chinese people and people in other countries,” he said.

The spokesman also said that people all over the world are clear that it is under the leadership of the CPC that the Chinese people have won independence, freedom and liberation, and continue to achieve remarkable results in the process of building the country.

“It is also under CPC leadership that the Chinese people have been united and taken decisive action to make positive progress in the fight against the virus, which bought precious time for the world,” he said.