China Responsible for Virus Outbreak, Says Former Strategist
On Thursday, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon sharply criticized China. He mentioned the way the country handles the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting they should take responsibility for the pandemic.
Bannon stated, “The Chinese Communist Party is going to have to pay.”
He also believes that the world is going to hold them in judgment. And it will not be a pleasant event to behold. The former White House strategist also claims that China owes them a trillion, if not, tens of trillions of dollars.
For a long time now, Bannon has been a critic of China. He further insisted that the Chinese government was misleading them purposely regarding the deadly virus pandemic when it started in the country late last year.
The strategist pointed out early suggestions from officials in the country that the virus is not transferable from person to person. But later on in late January, they confirmed that it could transmit.
Bannon – who used to run far-right Breibart News – said, “They tried to protect it going around the rest of China, but they didn’t care about it going around the rest of the world.”
Also, a more transparent response and warning from the Chinese government might have saved many lives. It would have also avoided the current economic damage.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there are currently more than 3.2 million people worldwide infected with COVID-19. About 228,000 have already died.
In addition to that, U.S. intelligence officials reportedly think that China is also deliberately miscounting the number of deaths and cases in the country. According to the JHU data, there are only under 84,000 confirmed cases and 4,637 deaths in China.
Bannon
Furthermore, Bannon praised U.S. officials regardless of their political ideology. His praise extended from President Donald Trump to governors across the country, for the way they responded to the pandemic. This is while considering both the early information on the outbreak hidden from them and the information people lied about.
In recent weeks, criticisms of the early handling of the outbreak in China have escalated. This includes criticism from the White House as well. However, some think that focusing on recriminations during the pandemic risks overlooking the vital ties that stayed between the two countries.
Cornell University’s professor of government and an expert in domestic politics of China, Jessica Chen Weiss, explained, “Now, more than ever, the U.S. economy needs China’s support to provide goods to the retail market, purchase American products, deliver medical supplies and protective equipment, and soon, to share the vaccine that’s being developed there.”
Aside from that, Weiss indicated that Bannon holding China accountable for the coronavirus outbreak has no basis in real facts.
Nevertheless, the United States is not the only country where China’s handling of the outbreak faces scrutiny. Also, governments around the world have asked why Chinese authorities withheld early reports of the new virus emerging in Wuhan.
Last week, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman noted that the government of China has always been open. It has been transparent, and responsible when it comes to sharing details about the pandemic since it started.
