US President Donald Trump has warned that China will face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the coronavirus pandemic.
“It could have been stopped in China before it started and it wasn’t, and the whole world is suffering because of it,” Trump said during a daily White House briefing on Saturday.
“If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake. But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, I mean, then sure there should be consequences,” he warned.
Trump recently stopped aid to the World Health Organization (WHO) accusing it to be “China-centric”.
Initially, the US President was all praise for his counterpart Xi Jinping’s response to the crisis. But soon Trump changed his tone calling the coronavirus as “Chinese virus” to which China objected. Analysts point out the anti-China sentiment is growing in the US and this could be something Trump is aiming for at the next election.
US is reportedly heavily dependent on China for personal protection equipment desperately needed to protect health workers.
He even said whether the coronavirus in China was “a mistake that got out of control, or was it done deliberately?” referring to Wuhan virology lab that Fox News had reported about. Trump said his government is seeking to find out whether the virus emanated from a Chinese lab.
Trump also again cast doubt on China’s death toll numbers saying it could be more than US count.
