Anti-China bills presented to the U.S. Congress demanding an investigation into China and blaming it for the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. are groundless, untenable, and a typical example of political manipulation, said deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature.

The third session of the 13th National People’s Congress opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 22. Photo by Weng Qiyu/People’s Daily Online

China has strictly followed the procedures for reporting, verifiction and releasing information on infectious diseases stipulated by the law on prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in an open, transparent, and responsible manner, said Zheng Shuna, a deputy to the NPC.

China released the relevant information about the COVID-19 outbreak at the earliest possible time, Zheng stressed, adding that the country has published a detailed timeline on its COVID-19 response.

Facts have shown that the Chinese government has taken the most comprehensive, strict, and thorough epidemic prevention and control measures, which helped promptly and effectively cut off the virus’ transmission chain, Zheng said.

According to a research report published in Science magazine, the lockdown measures introduced in China may have prevented more than 700,000 people from being infected with the novel coronavirus, Zheng noted.

In contrast, the U.S. has seen its number of confirmed COVID-19 cases surge from less than 100 in February to more than 1.6 million today, Zheng said, noting that the absurd allegation that China’s lack of transparency in releasing information caused delays in the U.S. pandemic response does not stand up in the face of the facts.

The international community has reached a consensus that the origin of a virus is a serious scientific issue that must be studied by scientists and medical experts using scientific methods, said Xu Anbiao, a NPC deputy.

The jump to conclusions by some people and attempts to blame China based on presumption of guilt in the absence of scientific conclusions won’t enjoy popular support, Xu said.

Chinese medical experts and scientists were the first to share with the world the full genome sequence of the novel coronavirus and the first to isolate the virus strain, Xu noted, adding that the information on COVID-19 released by China has served as reference for and contributed significantly to global efforts to study the virus’ transmission mechanism, develop testing kits, and treat COVID-19 patients.

There have been many media reports showing that clinicopathologic analyses of patients in some countries revealed that some people who had not been to China were infected with the novel coronavirus before the concentrated outbreak of the disease, Xu added.

Some U.S. Congress members have shifted the blame for the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. onto China in their bills, and even claimed compensation from China, NPC deputy Yu Zhigang said, noting that these bills were drawn up with total disregard for facts and logic.

These bills have revealed the shocking Cold War mentality, arrogance and bigotry of some members of the U.S. Congress, Yu noted, adding that U.S. Congress members’ attempts to claim compensation from China over the pandemic by proposing bills and promoting amendments to municipal laws are in fact a breach of the principle of sovereign equality stipulated in international law.

These bills have also challenged the universally recognized principle of sovereign immunity in international law and disturbed the international order, Yu pointed out.

The U.S. has the world’s most advanced medical technologies, best medicines, and largest number of biotechnology labs, and yet the country has witnessed a rapid spread of the disease due to inadequate epidemic prevention and control efforts, Yu said.

There have been many pandemics in the history of mankind, and many of them were first reported in the U.S., Yu said, asking why the U.S. didn’t assume responsibility for those outbreaks.

Playing the “blame game” and shifting the responsibility onto China will never help combat the pandemic, stressed NPC deputy Chen Fuli, adding that countries can only defeat the disease by intensifying cooperation and supporting the role of the World Health Organization.

China has always upheld the idea of a community of a shared future for mankind and worked together with various countries in their global efforts to fight the pandemic, Chen said, noting that the country has offered assistance, dispatched medical teams, and provided massive amounts of medical supplies to countries across the world.

Many social organizations, enterprises, and people in the U.S. also offered help to China in the initial stages of the pandemic, Chen revealed, saying that China has offered support and convenience to the U.S. in purchases of anti-epidemic materials from China, while many Chinese provinces, cities, enterprises, and institutions have donated large amounts of urgently needed medical supplies to the U.S.

Some U.S. Congress members’ fabrication of lies to smear China in disregard of the above facts is a “political virus” inflicted upon and spreading around the world while COVID-19 is still raging, Chen said.