Pompeo says China still withholding coronavirus information – Reuters

< img src ="// s3.reutersmedia.net/ resources/r/?"The disinformation project from Russia and Iran as well as China continues," he said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday sharpened his criticism of China’s handling of the coronavirus break out, saying its judgment Communist Party was still rejecting the world info it needs to prevent additional cases.

< img src ="// s3.reutersmedia.net/ resources/r/? m=02 & d=20200325 & t=2 & i=1507763515 & r= LYNXMPEG2N2GP & w=20 "aria-label="FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo affirms before your house Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on "Trump administration policies on Iran, Iraq and usage of force." on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S. February 28, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

“> FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies prior to your house Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on “Trump administration policies on Iran, Iraq and usage of force.”on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S. February 28, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria In an interview with the Washington Watch radio program, Pompeo duplicated previous charges that Beijing’s delay in sharing info about the virus had actually created threats to individuals worldwide and stated this had “really put countless lives at danger.”

“My issue is that this cover-up, this disinformation that the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in, is still denying the world the info it requires so that we can avoid additional cases or something like this from repeating again,” he included.

Pompeo also implicated Iran and Russia of waging disinformation projects about the infection.

“The disinformation campaign from Russia and Iran along with China continues,” he said. “They’re talking about it originating from the U.S. Army and they’re saying maybe it started in Italy, all things to deflect obligation.”

In spite of his strong criticism of China, Pompeo refrained from referring to the infection as the “Chinese infection” or the “Wuhan virus,” identifies that have outraged Beijing and which he has used consistently.

“The time will come for recriminations,” he stated, but added it was necessary for the world to understand now what was actually going on.

“This is an ongoing worldwide crisis, and we require to make sure that every nation today is being transparent, sharing what’s really going on, so that the worldwide community, the worldwide healthcare, transmittable illness neighborhood can begin to work on this in a holistic way.”

Pompeo, a relentless critic of Beijing and the Communist Party, said “really essential decisions” would need to be made in future about how the U.S.-China relationship was structured.

He added that supply-chain difficulties faced in the United States was because of companies “operating their supply chains out of China however not here in the United States.”

Pompeo did not intricate, however U.S. administration officials stated last week the White House was preparing an executive order to help transfer medical supply chains from China and in other places abroad to the United States in the middle of the coronavirus break out.

The proposed U.S. push has stimulated concern in China and elsewhere, although it is unclear when Trump might act.

At a daily rundown of his coronavirus job force, Trump stated the United States “need to never be reliant on a foreign country for the methods of our own survival.”

“Our objective for the future should be to have American medication for American patients, American materials for American health centers …”

Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Richard Pullin

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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