(ECNS) -- The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday urged some U.S. politicians to stop putting political expediency above people's lives, to respect facts and science, and to stop talking nonsense and deceiving the world.
In response to U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo's lashing out against China's handling of COVID-19 and accusing it of covering up the truth, Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made some targeted rebuttals.
Faced with the COVID-19 outbreak, China and the U.S. mounted two drastically different responses, Zhao said, pointing out that the results speak for themselves.
To protect people's lives and health, social and economic activities across the country were halted, decisive isolation measures enforced, the WHO's professional recommendations followed, and science-based policy adopted to break the transmission route and save lives at all costs. No effort was spared in treating the infected, from a 108-year-old to a baby just 30 hours old, Zhao said.
In contrast, the U.S. has put selfish political gains first. In pursuit of this priority, it made light of the epidemic, veered from science, and even resorted to blame-shifting. The result is a major outbreak that has taken its toll on American lives and people's health, dragged the economy into a recession, and triggered social unrest, the spokesperson added.
According to statistics from U.S. media in May, over one third of fatal cases in 31 American states are from nursing homes.
China has detailed its effective measures with a clear timeline and released the white paper Fighting COVID-19: China in Action, which documented the Chinese people's war against the epidemic.
"Despite the major strategic outcomes we have achieved, we remain vigilant, allowing not the slightest relaxation, and act promptly to contain new infections. After the COVID-19 cluster emerged at the Xinfadi Wholesale Market in Beijing, relevant departments lost no time in battling the virus," Zhao said.
Quarantine and testing teams were put together in real time and large-scale nucleic acid testing conducted. As of June 28, about 8.3 million samples have been taken with nearly 7.7 million tests completed. The situation was quickly brought under control.
However, U.S. CDC Director Redfield said the number of people actually infected with COVID-19 in the U.S. could be more than 10 times the number of confirmed cases, or more than 20 million. Recently, the U.S. has experienced a strong rebound of the epidemic. On June 27, the daily number of confirmed cases in the U.S. exceeded 44,000, a record high.
"This shows that it is useless for the U.S. to blame others. It is more than clear whether the U.S. or China is actually 'putting people and their lives front and center,'" Zhao said.
As for Pompeo's claim that China is concealing the truth about the epidemic, the facts will speak for themselves, Zhao said, adding that Wuhan's closure on January 23 made headlines worldwide, by which time there was only one publicly confirmed case in the United States. When the U.S. closed its border to China on February 2, U.S. officials counted just 11 confirmed cases. According to open reports, statistics from Canada, France, Russia, Australia, Singapore, Japan and other countries show that the vast majority of cases in these countries are not from China. Instead, the article "Why is the United States Exporting Coronavirus" published by the New York Times notes that the United States, with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, is currently deporting thousands of illegal immigrants, many of whom are COVID-19 patients, he said.
In late April, the government of Guatemala reported that nearly one in five COVID-19 infections in the country were linked to deportees from the U.S., and 71 of the 76 deportees tested positive for coronavirus.
"We are saddened by the loss of so many lives to the virus in the U.S. and pay tribute to the American medical workers who are devoted to saving lives and containing the epidemic. We sincerely wish the American people an early victory over the epidemic,” the spokesperson said.
