U.S. guilty of three sins in COVID-19 response, origin-tracing: FM spokesperson

BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The United States is guilty of three sins in COVID-19 epidemic response and origin-tracing, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing in response to a query concerning the U.S. response to the pandemic.

"First, the United States has allowed the virus to spread unchecked. The United States, which is a global leader in medical technology, has let political manipulation override epidemic control, leading to the infection of some 35 million Americans and lost of lives of more than 610,000," Zhao said.

"The United States has failed to exercise effective outbound travel control measures, and many countries have reported imported cases from the United States," he said.

In disregard of the opposition of the international community, the United States has sped up the repatriation of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants infected with the coronavirus, exacerbating the epidemic in many Latin American countries.

Meanwhile, Zhao criticized the United States for hiding the truth from the world, citing a research by the University of Washington that suggests the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the country could be as high as 65 million and 900,000 respectively, far higher than official statistics.

"While the timeline of early cases in the United States has been constantly dialed forward, and Fort Detrick is shrouded with suspicion, the United States still mentions nothing about whether it plans to invite the World Health Organization in, and open Fort Detrick and other bio labs," Zhao added.

Zhao also said the United States has been practicing terrorism under the pretext of origin-tracing.

"Ever since its previous administration coined the term 'Chinese virus,' the United States has not stopped trying to sell stories that stigmatize China," Zhao said, adding that it attempted to link the origin of the virus with China and even Asian countries as a group, which has caused rising anti-Asian sentiment in the United States and some other countries in the West, where many people of Asian descent fear discrimination, oppression and even physical harm.

He also accused the United States of playing dirty tricks on the scientific community, stifling the righteous voice of scientists, subjecting many outspoken scientists to verbal abuse and the threat of physical assaults.

Zhao said the above-mentioned three sins are just the tip of the iceberg of the political manipulation conducted by the United States.

He added that it is the universal consensus of the international community to reject the political manipulation of the origin-tracing issue. So far, 60 countries have written to WHO Director-General to state their position.

"The coronavirus needs to be traced to its source, and so does the political virus, which needs to be thoroughly dealt with, as some are taking advantage of the pandemic to shift the blame, and blatantly engage in discrimination and coercion," Zhao added.