US President Donald Trump has warned China of consequences if it was
"knowingly responsible" for the spread of the novel coronavirus
pandemic. Trump, who as expressed his disappointment over handling of
Covid-19 by China, alleged non-transparency and initial non-cooperation
with the US on this issue.
"If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be
consequences," he told reporters at a White House news conference on
Saturday. "You're talking about, you know, potentially lives like
nobody's seen since 1917."
Trump said his relationship with China was very good till the time the
deadly COVID-19 swept the world. "The relationship was good when we were
signing that, but then, all of a sudden, you hear about this. So, it's a
big difference. You know, the question was asked would you be angry at
China. Well, the answer very well might be a very resounding yes, but it
depends," Trump said.
The president underlined that there was a big difference between a
mistake that got out of control or something done deliberately.
"In either event, they should have let us go in. You know, we asked to
go in very early and they didn't want us in. I think they knew it was
something bad and I think they were embarrassed," Trump said.
He claimed that China was pitching for former vice president Joe Biden,
who is the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for the
presidential election. "If sleepy Joe Biden wins, China will own the
United States," Trump said, adding that his administration had gained
billions of dollars from China due to his assertive trade policies.
The president said the coronavirus crisis had hurt everybody. "We had
the greatest economy in the world by far. China isn't even close. Go
back two months. And we're going to keep it that way," he said.
