“Neglect of the facts”: Beijing condemned the introduction of a bill on sanctions against China because of the coronavirus in the US Senate

Beijing strongly protests the introduction of a bill in the US Senate that provides for anti-Chinese sanctions over the COVID-19 pandemic. This was stated by Zhao Lijian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“A bill introduced by a group of US senators absolutely neglects the facts. The purpose of the insistent calls to conduct investigations, which are obviously based on the presumption of guilt, is to shift the responsibility for a clumsy response (to the coronavirus epidemic. - RT ) to China. This is highly immoral. We are strongly protesting, ”Zhao Lijian emphasized during the briefing.

On the eve of the US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduced to Congress a bill on sanctions against China called "On responsibility for COVID-19." This is stated on the official website of the senator. According to Graham, “without deception by the Chinese Communist Party,” there would be “no virus” in the United States.

“China does not allow the international community to conduct an investigation in a laboratory in Wuhan and study how the outbreak began. I’m sure that China will never cooperate with any serious investigation if it isn’t forced, ”the press release said.

The document submitted to Congress by Graham was immediately supported by eight more Republican senators.

The bill suggests that US President Donald Trump may impose restrictions if the PRC refuses to cooperate and fails to provide a “full report of the events leading to the outbreak of coronavirus infection.” Moreover, the document contains a demand to release all activists detained in Hong Kong after the pandemic, and also to close all markets where the virus could spread from wild animals to people.

Otherwise, the US president will be authorized to impose a number of sanctions - “such as freezing assets, a ban on entry, revocation of visas, a ban on US financial institutions from underwriting and granting loans to Chinese businesses, and a ban on Chinese firms from placing their securities on American exchanges ".

Elements of unfair competition

The sanctions bill against China  is  far from Washington’s first attack on Beijing, experts say. In their opinion, this initiative is the completion of a certain stage of attacks on the Chinese authorities by the United States, which has been going on for several months.

Back in March, the head of the White House, Donald Trump, accused Beijing of not informing the world community about the outbreak of coronavirus in time.

In April, the US president said that the PRC should be held accountable if it is proved that the Chinese authorities intentionally contributed to the spread of coronavirus infection.

“She (the coronavirus pandemic. -  RT ) could have been stopped in China before it started. But they didn’t do this, and now the whole world is suffering because of it ... If there was a mistake, the error is an error. But if they (Chinese. -  RT ) acted consciously, then this should have consequences, ”Trump said at a briefing at the White House.

And two weeks ago, the American leader said that China could stop the spread of COVID-19, but did not.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on May 3 said that Washington allegedly has evidence of COVID-19 in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

"There is impressive evidence that it all started there," he said on the air of This Week on ABC.

Referring to some experts, the Secretary of State made the statement that the virus is of artificial origin. In addition, he accused Beijing of concealing the facts of the spread of coronavirus infection.

“These are classic communist misinformation efforts,” said Pompeo.

• US Department of State
• © Joshua Roberts / Reuters

At the same time, the head of the State Department did not bring any evidence, but emphasized that all those responsible would be held accountable.

In response to a series of accusations from the American side, the Chinese authorities published a document that refutes information circulated by Washington about the role of China in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Myths and false accusations against Beijing are examined and refuted in detail on 24 points. The material is available on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The document says that there is no scientific evidence that would prove that it was Wuhan that became the source of the new coronavirus. Moreover, the assumption of the creation of COVID-19 in the laboratories of the Wuhan Research Institute is refuted. It is noted that all available data indicate the natural origin of the virus.

Debunking Beijing and Washington’s allegations that the Chinese side allegedly tried to hide the epidemic first. Beijing provided a detailed chronology of events, according to which the first report by the local authorities of China about suspected cases of pneumonia appeared on December 27, 2019, and the same investigation was launched by Chinese epidemiologists on the same day. And on December 31, Beijing informed the WHO office in the PRC about the situation. Then these data were published in the media around the world.

As the president of the Russian-Chinese Analytical Center ANO Sergey Sanakoev said in an interview with RT, it is completely unfair that “unreasonable claims by the United States” are put forward precisely by China, the country that first took the attack of the coronavirus, “informed the world about the outbreak in a timely manner ”And, as a result,“ successfully suppressed it, ”providing data on this disease.

“In addition, China continues to provide medical care to other countries in the fight against COVID-19, including through the supply of personal protective equipment. However, American politicians seem to not notice all this and put forward new charges. This is simply unthinkable, ”the analyst emphasized.

• US Senate Judicial Committee Remote Hearing May 12, 2020
• © Carlos Barria / Reuters

According to Sanakoev, new attacks on China and accusations of spreading coronavirus infection are “elements of unfair competition in the United States.”

“The Trump administration has previously resorted to such tools bordering on the outbreak of trade and sanctions wars against the PRC, but now a convenient opportunity has turned up to intensify all this activity. It is important for Washington to exert pressure on China, which is not going to adapt to the policy of the United States and goes its own way, ”the expert said.

"Will support the glow"

According to analysts, the sanctions bill was not accidentally filed by the Republican Senator and supported by other representatives of the Republican Party. According to Sergei Sanakoev, such an initiative shows that the coronavirus pandemic "has become a litmus test", showing the attitude of American Republican politicians towards China.

“The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated hostility to the PRC in the ranks of the Republican Party. It was COVID-19 that became the next reason to make new accusations against Beijing categorically, without taking into account international standards and without providing evidence. In this case, US senators act according to the traditional high-likly formula, the expert said in a conversation with RT.

Republicans continue to promote the topic of accusations against China, including to “mask the failures of the presidential administration in the fight against coronavirus infection,” political analyst Alexander Asafov said.

“Representatives of the Republican Party are actually acting in the interests of the head of the White House. Thus, they are trying to simultaneously distract ordinary Americans from the difficult situation in the country and shift responsibility for Trump’s belated actions in the fight against coronavirus to China, ”the expert explained in a conversation with RT.

Recall that the United States is in first place in the world in the number of cases of coronavirus. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 1.3 million infected were detected there, more than 83 thousand people with confirmed COVID-19 died.

According to experts, the tense situation in the United States is evidenced not only by high mortality rates from coronavirus, but also by the ambiguous behavior of Donald Trump. So, during the next briefing on May 11, the head of the White House rude to a journalist of Asian descent in response to a question why he sees rivalry of world powers in testing for coronavirus, while US residents continue to die.

“Perhaps you should ask China this question,” Trump answered. “Don't ask me, ask China, okay?”

Due to a skirmish with a representative of the media, the American leader completely interrupted the press conference. 

As Alexander Asafov predicts, the Republican bill, which imposes sanctions against China, has “not very many prospects,” since all reputation and electoral points from the process with the PRC’s accusations should be received by “none other than Trump is his personal project.”

“Therefore, democrats will be, to put it mildly, not interested in supporting this kind of initiative,” the analyst said.

In addition, according to Sergei Sanakoev, Washington will not be able to significantly harm China, even if the bill is ultimately passed.

• US President Donald Trump
• © Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

According to the expert, if the White House decides to apply sanctions against Beijing, it will hit, first of all, the many American campaigns that work closely with Chinese partners.

“The United States will literally shoot itself in the foot. At the same time, China is self-sufficient, it is able to develop the economy within the country, since in the PRC there is a sufficiently large layer of the middle class with stable consumer ability, which is a huge backlog. In addition, Beijing can always reorient economic flows, ”the analyst explained.

According to Sanakoev, Beijing is building up cooperation with Russia and Central Asian countries, as well as creating new opportunities for global development through the project "One belt - one way."

“In the end, it may even turn out that the USA itself isolates itself from the new world, which may be formed as a result of their own actions,” the expert emphasized. 

At the same time, Sanakoev predicts that the Trump administration "in any case" will maintain tension around the accusations against China related to the spread of the coronavirus until November, until the US presidential election takes place.

“After that, regardless of who is in the chair of the head of the White House, this whole story will most likely come to naught, because the administration will weigh the pros and cons and realize that measures against China will hit before total, in the United States itself, ”the expert concluded.