If the economies of China and United States are to be revived, both countries must cooperate to end the coronavirus disease that has left the world gasping for breath, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said on Friday at a media briefing.
He was speaking against U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that bilateral ties might be halted over Beijing’s alleged responsibility for unleashing the virus.
On Thursday, Trump had said in an interview with Fox News that the U.S. might cut all ties with China in the light of Beijing’s coronavirus-related policies.
“The stable development of U.S.-Chinese relations is in the fundamental interest of people from both countries and favourable for global peace and stability.
“China and the U.S. should strengthen cooperation to defeat the coronavirus as soon as possible, cure patients, resume production, and develop the economy,” the spokesman said.
Trump has repeatedly claimed, although with no evidence, that the virus that caused deaths, lockdowns and economic standstill all around the world was developed in a Wuhan laboratory, a Chinese city in the Hubei province from where the first reports of an abnormal respiratory disease came last December.
The U.S. president threatened China with consequences if its responsibility for unleashing the virus is proven.
Asked by the host on Thursday to comment on a statement by one of the U.S. senators that America could stop issuing visas to Chinese students in retaliation, Trump said that his country could possibly go as far as cutting all bilateral ties.
China has so far consistently denied the accusations, stressing that its policies were transparent throughout the outbreak.
