Trump warning bid to shift virus response blame: China

Beijing, May 19: China on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump of using it “as an issue” to shift the blame from his “incompetent response” to contain the Covid-19 at home, hours after he threatened to pull the US out of the World Health Organisation if it failed to demonstrate “independence” from China. “The US tries to use China as an issue to shift responsibility and bargain on its international obligations to WHO”, which is a miscalculation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here.

He was responding to questions on Trump’s letter to World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus threatening to “permanently freeze” the US funding to the UN health agency if it failed to demonstrate its “independence” from China in the next 30 days.

“The US leadership’s letter is full of vague expressions,” Zhao said. “It tries to mislead the public to smear China and shift the blame from its own incompetent response” to stop the spread of the virus in the US, he said. “It is futile. Currently, Covid-19 is still spreading in the US and many other places,” he said, adding that the US politicians should stop the blame game and work with the international community to stop the spread of the virus.

He also sought to dismiss Trump’s threat to “permanently freeze” US contribution to the WHO and highlighted China’s increasing contributions to the global body. He said the WHO membership contributions are jointly determined by the member states. “It cannot be determined by US itself. Paying assessed contributions on time is the obligation of the member states of WHO,” he said.