The U.S. Secretary of State, according to the publication, uses “every opportunity” to slander China and the World Health Organization.
A major Chinese English edition of the China Daily on Wednesday published a piece entitled “The Clown Show [Michael] Pompeo sheds light on the mistakes of the U.S. administration”, sharply criticizing the U.S. Secretary of State’s remarks. The material is accompanied by a personal cartoon, unusual for the usually reserved Chinese media, depicting a politician-like man in clown clothes juggling balls with the words “lying”.
Jester of lies #ChinaDailyCartoon #COVID_19 #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/YijQTq6uFn
— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) May 6, 2020
Earlier, Michael Pompeo said that the U.S. administration has evidence of the spread of the new coronavirus from a laboratory in Wuhan. Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng, in turn, stressed that Beijing “did not hide any information” about the coronavirus.
An editorial noted that “Pompeo is increasing its communication with the media as the number of people infected with the new coronavirus in the U.S. grows and as the number of people dying from it increases,” but “does not use the expansion of its media presence to promote much-needed cooperation in containing the virus in the U.S. and beyond,” instead using “every opportunity” to slander China and the World Health Organization.
The material again notes that, according to scientists from different countries, the virus has a natural origin, “but Pompeo insists that it comes from a laboratory in Wuhan”. Behind this, the publication says, there is a desire to give legitimacy to attempts to oblige China to compensate for the pandemic damage, which Le Yucheng previously called ridiculous.
“In the absence of any indication that the administration is succeeding in taking control of the pandemic at home, turning China into a scapegoat is the only straw it grabs at trying to hide its incompetence and redirect a storm of public outrage”, – China Daily writes.