China puts itself in battle order - Ng Han Guan / AP / SIPA

China and the United States are "on the brink of a new Cold War," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned on Sunday of renewed tensions with Washington over the Covid-19 epidemic.

The first patients with the new coronavirus were reported at the end of last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan (center). It has since spread across the planet and killed some 340,000 people.

A political virus

Donald Trump has regularly accused the Chinese authorities in recent weeks of having failed to communicate crucial data on the severity of the virus, which he believes could have been halted.

"In addition to the devastation caused by the new coronavirus, a political virus is spreading in the United States" regretted in front of the press the head of the Chinese diplomacy, without naming the American president. "This political virus takes every opportunity to attack and defame China," lambasted Wang Yi.

Animosity long before the pandemic

Beijing and Washington were already at loggerheads for two years and the trade war launched by the Trump administration based on reciprocal customs surcharges which penalizes international trade. But the new coronavirus pandemic has pushed the tension between the two powers to new heights.

"Certain American political forces are taking hostage relations between China and the United States and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War" with the coronavirus crisis, regretted Wang Yi.

Still looking for international cooperation?

Donald Trump has raised the possibility of asking Beijing to pay billions of dollars in compensation for the damage caused by the epidemic. And the United States has called for an international investigation into the origin of the virus. China is "ready" for international cooperation to identify the source of the new coronavirus, said Wang Yi.

But such cooperation should refrain from "political interference," he warned. Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday he was in favor of a "comprehensive assessment" of the global response to the new coronavirus once the epidemic is halted.

In a video message to the annual meeting of the WHO, the strong man from Beijing swept away any failure of his country in the management of the epidemic, assuring that China had "always" shown "transparency" and "responsibility" in this matter.

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  • Covid 19
  • Coronavirus
  • China
  • World
  • United States