The United States and China are currently embroiled in a bitter rift over the origin of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly 5,000 fatalities have been recorded from nearly 133,000 cases, although John Hopkins University, which tracks the virus, says at least 68,000 victims have recovered after testing positive for the virus.
However, the US and China have continued to trade blames on its origin.
Chinese Foreign Ministry new spokesman Zhao Lijian had angered the US when he echoed a conspiracy theory that suggested that COVID-19 did not emanate from Wuhan, China as previously thought but was imported into the South-East Asian nation by the US Army.
Zhao tweeted the allegation on Thursday, although WHO named Wuhan as the epicentre of the virus..
Apparently irked by the allegation, US Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell summoned China’s ambassador in Washington, Cui Tiankai to the State Department on Friday.
CNN reported, quoting an unnamed State Department official, that Stilwell debunked the claim to Cui, who was very “defensive”.
President Donald Trump previously described COVID-19 as a ” foreign virus”, and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo has referred to it as the ” Wuhan virus”.
But apart from Zhao, other top Chinese politicians have also suggested the virus was imported into the country.
Fellow Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said accounts of origin of the virus were “varied, an argument supported by the country’s top infectious disease expert and government health officials.
But Stilwell reportedly told the Chinese Ambassador that spreading conspiracy theories was “dangerous and ridiculous”.
He was quoted as saying that the US would not tolerate the comments as it appeared China was attempting to shift blame for “starting a global pandemic and not telling the world”.
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