The initiative suggests that sanctions could be imposed if Beijing “fails to cooperate and provide a full account of the events that led to the coronavirus outbreak”.
U.S. President Donald Trump said that he had not yet seen the bill to impose sanctions on China because of the coronavirus, but plans to study it.
We’re talking about a bill that Republican Lindsay Graham introduced earlier to the U.S. Senate. The initiative suggests the possibility of imposing sanctions against China if Beijing “fails to cooperate and provide a full report on the events that led to the outbreak” of the new type of coronavirus. On Wednesday, during Trump’s meeting with the governors of Colorado and North Dakota states at the White House, journalists asked the American president if he would sign the bill if it was approved by the US Congress.
“I respect Lindsay Graham. <…> There’s no doubt I’ll study it [the bill] before I see it”, – said the head of the Washington administration.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian earlier called the Graham-proposed bill immoral. In his view, this initiative “completely ignores the facts. Zhao Lijian emphasized that since the outbreak of the new type of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), China has worked closely with the World Health Organization.
The outbreak of coronavirus-induced disease was recorded in late 2019 in Central China and has spread to most countries. WHO recognized it as a pandemic. Washington accuses China of withholding information about the origin of the virus and the scope of the pandemic. For his part, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said in an interview with NBC journalists on 29 April that Beijing “did not conceal any information” about the coronavirus. He expressed regret that “some politicians use the situation with the virus to shelf China”.