Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang (Photo from Foreign Ministry website)

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for not focusing on the battle against COVID-19 in his own country but instead repeatedly stirring political disputes and smearing China to divert the attention of Americans from US incompetence. 

Pompeo went against the global consensus of recognizing China's efforts in combating COVID-19, smeared China's efforts and stigmatized China in an attempt to divert the attention of Americans and shift the blame to China, which exposed his extremely evil intentions, Geng Shuang, spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at Thursday's media briefing. 

Geng's remarks came after Pompeo at the Group of Seven (G7) meeting once again referred to the novel coronavirus as "Wuhan virus" and accused China of launching an "intentional disinformation campaign." 

"Facing a global COVID-19 pandemic and an aggravating situation in the US, the US politician, who does not devote himself to the domestic battle against the virus and international cooperation on the battle, repeatedly stirred up political disputes and sabotaged global cooperation. Does he have any morality?" Geng said.  

We urge him not to go too far in the wrong path, otherwise, it will only expose his hypocrisy and ill intentions and trigger opposition from people around the world, Geng said. 

We urge the US side to respect the facts and stop politicizing the COVID-19 epidemic and stop attacking and smearing China, Geng said.

In response to accusation that the WHO has been favoring China, Geng said that the WHO, as the most authoritative and professional agency in the field of international health, has made great efforts to coordinate the global fight against COVID-19 and international cooperation since the outbreak, and China supports the WHO to continue to perform an important role in the international health cooperation in the next phase, Geng said.

Global Times