Government officials in China have expressed anger after US President Donald Trump referred to the coronavirus as “Chinese virus”.
China officials were angry with President Donald Trump after he called the coronavirus "Chinese virus" in a tweet. According to a foreign ministry spokesman, the US should “take care of its own business” before stigmatizing China.
The first cases of Covid-19 were discovered n the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019. Currently, thare are more than 170,000 cases recorded globally, with more than 80,000 in China.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against linking the virus to any particular area or group, due to the risk of stigmatization.
However, last week, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman discussed a conspiracy theory, alleging the US Army of bringing the virus to the region. In response to this claim, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded China to stop spreading “disinformation” as it tried “to shift blame” for the outbreak.
Trump's Tweet
President Trump posted on Twitter on Monday, in which he referred to the coronavirus, which causes the disease Covid-19, as the “Chinese virus”. The same term has been used by a number of US administration officials while Pompeo has repeatedly referred to it as the “Wuhan virus”.
Geng Shuang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said Trump's tweet amounted to "stigmatization of China". Shuang added: "We urge the US to correct its mistake and stop its groundless accusations against China."
Xinhua, China’s official news agency, argued that Trump’s language was "racist and xenophobic" and revealed "politicians' irresponsibility and incompetence", risking increasing fears over the virus.
New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio also criticized the American president, saying that the phrase risked “fuelling more bigotry” against Asian-Americans.
The US and China have been in a trade war in the past few years but this appeared to be easing as the two nations came up with a partial agreement in January. However, the coronavirus outbreak brought new tensions between them.
