The novel coronavirus outbreak that began in China’s Wuhan, has now spread to 185 countries and affected more than 2.5 million people globally. As per data provided by the COVID-19 live tracker maintained by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, more than 171,800 people have died.
Against this backdrop, many countries have criticised China for not taking adequate measures, and for endangering people’s lives in other countries.
US President Donald Trump for example, recently said that there would be consequences if China had been “knowingly responsible” for the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Describing the novel coronavirus as a plague, he had also said on Sunday said that he was too pleased with China. The US has launched an investigation into whether the deadly virus “escaped” from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and Trump on Sunday said that America wants to “see what’s going on”.
“We spoke to them (Chinese) a long time ago about going in. We want to go in. We want to see what’s going on. And we weren’t exactly invited, I can tell you that,” Trump told reporters.
China however has shut down this chain of thoughts. Reacting to Trump’s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing here that “the virus is the common enemy for all mankind”.
He also drew a parallel with previous viruses and diseases that had affected the world wondering why nobody has asked the US to “take the consequences”.
“Did anyone ask the US to offer compensations for the 2009 H1N1 flu, which was first diagnosed before breaking out on a large scale in the US and then spread to 214 countries and regions, killing nearly 200,000 people?” Geng Shuang asked.
He added that AIDS “was first reported in the US in the 1980s” before it affected the rest of the world and caused “untold sufferings to countless victims”.
“Did anyone come forward and ask the US to be held accountable?” he asked again, this time talking about AIDS.
It must however be mentioned that the US does indeed fund initiatives to combat these health crises.
Geng Shuang also quoted a professor from the National University of Singapore, Kishore Mahbubani, to say that the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers had led to the global financial crisis.
“In addition, Kishore Mahbubani, a professor at the National University of Singapore, said in an interview the other day that the financial turmoil in the US triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 turned into a global financial crisis. Did anyone ask the US to take the consequences?” he asked.
“Like any other country, China is attacked by this virus. China is a victim instead of the culprit. We are not co-worker for this virus,” he had said, adding that China’s efforts to contain the virus has provided “valuable experience for the international community” to deal with the challenged posed by the outbreak in their own countries.
Shuang also turned down Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s call for an international inquiry into coronavirus including its origins in China.
(With inputs from agencies)