Foreign Minister on the word war of the great powers: "Very disturbing"

Corona pandemic has started a huge information war between the US and China. A conflict that could affect the rest of the world, says Foreign Minister Ann Linde.

- It is very worrying for the rest of us in the world. For them, the two really big powers today are in terms of military, economic, innovation, trade. And if there is a really big conflict between these two, it will have repercussions for all of us others in a way we do not want, she says.

The war of words is about China's guilt in spreading the corona virus. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims there is "substantial evidence" that the infection is from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. And President Donald Trump believes China could have stopped the infection from spreading outside the country.

- This is worse than Pearl Harbor, it's worse than September 11. Nothing like that has ever happened and it should never have happened. It could have been halted at the source, halted in China, Donald Trump said at a press conference this weekend.

Foreign Minister Ann Linde believes that both countries are hard pressed by the corona crisis and serve to blame an "external enemy". She also adds that, from Trump's point of view, it may be a good strategy for the US presidential election.

- In the US, you are also very polarized in the run-up to the presidential election - except when it comes to attacking China, where everyone is completely in agreement, so it's a smart tactic from Trump and Pompeo. But it does worry, she says.

On Thursday, Hua Chunying, spokesman for Chinese Foreign Affairs, counter-attacked, saying Pompeo "follows up lies with lies".

"We sincerely hope that the American politicians who are now staring blindly at blaming others can instead focus on fighting the pandemic in the United States, so that more lives can be saved and so that the health and safety of residents is better protected," she says.

China has previously been accused of darkening the death toll in covid-19 and of initially not wanting to spread information about the virus outside the country.

But Ann Linde does not want to reject or believe Pompeo's theory about the Wuhan laboratory, but states that the United States has not yet provided any evidence to the world that it would be correct.

- It is not possible to say that it is right or wrong when you have not seen any evidence. Throughout history, we have great powers, including the United States, who have stated very serious things, which, when verified, have not been true. Therefore, I think you should be very careful to say that it is right or wrong, because we do not actually know that.