China doubles down on blaming America for coronavirus

(Pixabay)

A Chinese government official on Thursday doubled down on his regime's claim that the coronavirus is an American invention.

It was originally dubbed the "Wuhan coronavirus" because it was believed to have originated in the northeastern Chinese city. Communist Chinese authorities at the time acknowledged that, but as the coronavirus became a global pandemic, they backtracked.

It was Zhao Lijian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, who charged Wednesday it was "extremely irresponsible" for media to say the virus originated in China, saying his government "is still tracing the origin of the virus and there is no conclusion yet."

On Thursday, he suggested the U.S. Army might have brought the virus to Wuhan.

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1/2 CDC Director Robert Redfield admitted some Americans who seemingly died from influenza were tested positive for novel #coronavirus in the posthumous diagnosis, during the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3

— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 12, 2020

2/2 CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation! pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3

— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 12, 2020

On Twitter, he wrote that Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield "admitted some Americans who seemingly died from influenza were tested positive for novel #coronavirus in the posthumous diagnosis, during the House Oversight Committee Wednesday."

"CDC was caught on the spot," the Chinese official wrote. "When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!"

The reaction from the Chinese erupted shortly after U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, referred to the threat as the Wuhan virus.

Fox News reported Chinese state-run media began spreading the wild suggestion that "President Trump went to China and released vials of COVID-19 on groups of unsuspecting men, women and children."

"Beijing has been bending over backward trying to convince the world that the United States is the real culprit behind the quickly spreading virus that's already claimed more than 4,600 lives across the globe," the network said.

"It's a high-stakes strategy for the Asian nation fighting to keep its superpower status amid a national lockdown and palpable anger over claims that Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus, at first covered it up, triggering a worldwide health and economic crisis."

China expert Gordon Chang told Fox News that, at best, China is engaged in an ambitious propaganda campaign.

At worst, it's actively misleading the world "while working overtime to save its own skin."

Zhao Lijian earlier acknowledged that the COVID-19 virus "first appeared in China," but he insisted that "doesn’t mean its origin is in China."

A top Trump adviser charged the Chinese Communist Party's initial efforts to cover-up and minimize the outbreak may have contributed to its global spread, the Washington Examiner reported.

"This outbreak in Wuhan was covered up. It probably cost the world community two months [during which officials could have been working to contain it]," said National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien.

"If we'd had those [two months] and been able to sequence the virus, and had the cooperation necessary from the Chinese, had a WHO team been on the ground, had a CDC team, which we'd offered, been on the ground, I think we could have dramatically curtailed what happened both in China and what's now happening across the world," O'Brien said.

The Daily Signal noted Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged "the outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan."

And the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission confirmed its work on many pneumonia cases.

Pompeo told reporters this week "the Wuhan virus that began at the end of last year is something that this administration is taking incredibly seriously."

"The State Department has been very involved from the beginning when we worked diligently to get hundreds of Americans out of Hubei province, out of Wuhan, and get them back to the United States safely," he said.

"The Chinese Communist Party has said that this is where the virus started. So don’t take my word for it; take theirs," Pompeo said.

MSNBC personalities, nevertheless, are among media figures who have called it "racist" and "astoundingly gross" to note the origin of coronavirus.

And the Washington Post recently reported China's communist regime is helping spread the rumor that the virus originated in the United States.

"In recent days, run-of-the-mill mockery of the White House has taken a darker turn as the Chinese internet became inundated by the theory, subtly stoked by the Chinese government, that the coronavirus originated in the United States," the Post said. "The U.S. government, one version of the theory goes, has been covering up mounting cases, and perhaps thousands of deaths, by classifying them as regular flu."

The Daily Signal noted NBC, CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post have called it the Wuhan coronavirus.