fredag 8. mai 2020

US and Chinese officials are both preparing for 'a permanent lasting rupture'

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday renewed his aggressive criticism of China, blaming it for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people from the coronavirus and demanding again that it share information about the outbreak. "They knew. China could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. China could have spared the world descent into global economic malaise," Pompeo told a State Department news conference.

Pompeo pushed back against suggestions that he and other members of the Trump administration have issued conflicting statements about the exact origins of the novel coronavirus while blaming China for the initial outbreak in the city of Wuhan. Relations between Beijing and Washington have long been rocky. But now many leaders in both capitals see a more serious rupture as inevitable — or even desirable.