US President Donald Trump expressed his belief that China 's response to the outbreak of the Corona virus is evidence that it will do everything in its power to lose the upcoming presidential elections in November, and in its response, Beijing said it has no interest in that.
In an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump spoke in a sharp tone about China and said he was studying various options regarding the consequences it should bear due to the virus.
Asked if he would use tariffs, Trump said only that there was much he could do.
He also expressed his belief that China prefers the victory of his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, to ease pressure on it in the trade sector and other issues.
Trump has blamed China for the global pandemic that has killed at least 60,000 people in the United States, according to a Reuters count, and has plunged the US economy into a deep recession and jeopardized his hopes of winning a second four-year term.
| The United States has recorded sixty thousand deaths due to the Corona virus (Reuters) |
Criticism and Commentary
The Republican president, whom many accuse of not moving fast enough to prepare the country to cope with the spread of the virus, believes that China should have played a more prominent role in introducing the world to the Corona virus more quickly.
He said of the Chinese officials that they "always use public relations in an attempt to make it seem like an innocent party."
Trump added that the trade agreement he struck with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to reduce the chronic US trade deficit with China had been "severely disrupted" by the economic repercussions of the virus.
Commenting on the remarks, a senior Trump administration official said - on condition of anonymity - that an unofficial "truce" in the war of words that the two presidents (the American and Chinese) had agreed to in a phone call in late March seemed to end now. .
China
on its side. China said Thursday that it has no interest in interfering with the US presidential election.
Foreign Ministry spokesman King Shuang told reporters - during a daily briefing - that the elections are an internal matter for the United States, and that his country hopes the Americans will not try to drag Beijing to it.