TIRANA – EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has attacked the United States handling of the pandemic, said on Tuesday EUobserver.
European Union Minister for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said Monday it was “weak … and now they are seeing the consequences”, but “blaming China is not the solution”.
“After the crisis, we are going to face growing geopolitical tensions, especially between the United States and China. And we, Europeans, we have our work out to do there,” Borrell told the members of the European parliament in videoconference.
Brussels’ top diplomat also said that the US was wrong to defund the WHO. It was unhelpful that US sanctions were stopping humanitarian supplies from getting into Iran and Venezuela, with Borrell pledging to advocate for more access.
The EU foreign policy chief remarked on the importance of coordination for the solution to the crisis as the world may see increased tensions between the United States and China once the coronavirus crisis is over.
US president Donald Trump said last week Beijing might face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the spread of the coronavirus rather than made “a mistake.”
More than 2.4 million cases have been registered across the world so far, with the United States, Spain and Italy with the largest number of confirmed patients.
Reacting to Trump’s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing on Monday that “the virus is the common enemy for all mankind”.
“It may appear at anytime in the world. Like any other country, China is attacked by this virus. China is a victim instead of the culprit. We are not co-worker for this virus,” he said in a hard-hitting response to Trump’s plan to send a US probe team.
Geng said, “since the outbreak of the epidemic, China has been acting in an open, transparent and responsible manner with the most thorough and strong measures to stop the spread of the COVID-19”.
Pointing to H1N1 influenza which was detected in US 2009 as well as HIV/AIDS and the 2008 financial crisis in America which turned into global economic crisis, Geng asked, “Did anyone ask US accountability?” He also turned down Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s call for an international inquiry into coronavirus including its origins in China. (Compiled from wires by argumentum.al)
