Pompeo blames China for coronavirus deaths
washington — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday renewed his aggressive criticism of China, blaming it for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people from the coronavirus and demanding again that it share information about the outbreak.
“They knew. China could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. China could have spared the world descent into global economic malaise,” Pompeo told a State Department news conference.
“China is still refusing to share the information we need to keep people safe.”
Pompeo pushed back against suggestions he and other members of the Trump administration have issued conflicting statements about the exact origins of the novel coronavirus while blaming China for the initial outbreak in the city of Wuhan.
On Sunday, Pompeo said there was “a significant amount of evidence” the virus emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, having said the previous Thursday it was not known whether it came from the lab, a so-called wet market, or some other place.
On Wednesday, he said the United State did not have certainty, but there was significant evidence it came from the lab.
“Every one of those statements is entirely consistent,” he said. “We are all trying to figure out the right answer. We are all trying to get the clarity. There are different levels of certainty assessed at different places, Pompeo said.
Critics believe the US administration is seeking to deflect attention from what they see as a slow US response to the outbreak, which
US Secretary of State
has killed more than 255,000 people around the world, including more than 70,000 in the United States, the worst-hit country, according to official statistics.
Republican President Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election in November, on Tuesday also urged China to be transparent about the origins of the outbreak.
Pompeo said China was still withholding virus samples he says are needed for global vaccine research and rejected suggestions that Washington was being unfair to Beijing. —
Mike Pompeo
China could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. China could have spared the world descent into global economic malaise