China accuses US of using Covid-19 to tarnish China's reputation

Some US politicians are using the Corona virus as a weapon to discredit China as a words war escalated between the two countries over how to cope with the outbreak, Beijing said.

The article accused US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of spreading a "political virus" and using it to belittle China. O'Brien said last week that China's response to the Corona virus was slow, which cost the world two months during which it could have prepared for the disease spread, comments which angered China.

As for Pompeo, he said that the lack of data from China hampered the US response to the outbreak of the Corona virus. But Xinhua said the measures taken by Beijing, including imposing strict quarantine on millions of people, had given the world "valuable time" to prepare for the outbreak, which the international community has recognized.

She added that the efforts of the United States to deal with cases of HIV infection have been widely criticized. The agency accused Washington of double standards in evaluating isolation measures in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus that emerged in December last year, compared to its view of the isolation imposed by Italy recently. Xinhua also attacked American politicians who call the virus "Wuhan" or "Chinese virus."