China might be holding back information on the coronavirus on what should be done to combat the spread of the virus according to US State Secretary Mike Pompeo. On Tuesday Pompeo said that the criticized the Chinese Communist Party for withholding information on the coronavirus.
Pompeo calls China for withholding information
Pompeo was speaking in an interview with the Washington Watch radio. He reiterated previous charges that china’s failure to share information in time about COVID-19 has put people across the globe at risk. Pompeo emphasized that thousands of lives worldwide are currently at risk.
He added that his concern about China is the cover-up and the disinformation that Beijing is engaged in. Pompeo said that China is denying the world important information that can help in combating the spread of the virus and prevent something like this ever happening again.
Equally, Pompeo criticized Russia and Iran for starting disinformation campaigns about the coronavirus. The State Secretary said that there is a disinformation campaign from China, Russia, and Iran accusing the US army to have brought the virus and they are claiming that it might have started in Italy. They are trying to shift responsibility.
However, despite all this criticism, Pompeo did not refer to the virus as “the Wuhan virus” or “the Chinese virus” labels that have been used repeatedly and angered China. Pompeo added that it was important for everyone to know what is happening, and a time for recrimination will come. The coronavirus outbreak is a global crisis, and it is important that sharing of information is done transparently so that the world can fight off the spread of the deadly virus.
China denies withholding information
However, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang indicated that Beijing has been transparent and has been sharing information about COVID-19 with WHO as well as other countries. He added that the US should stop politicizing the coronavirus epidemic and attacking China.
According to Pompeo going forward, there will be very important decisions that will be made about the relationship between China and the US.