Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Sunday that his country and the United States are approaching a “new cold war edge”, expressing regret over the escalation of tension with Washington over the Corona epidemic.
“We have noticed that some political forces in the United States take American-Chinese relations hostage and push the two countries toward a new cold war,” the Chinese foreign minister told reporters.
The first cases of the emerging coronavirus were recorded late last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and it has spread around the world, killing 340,000 people.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused the Chinese authorities in recent weeks of being late in announcing important information regarding the severity of the virus, which was possible to stop its spread, according to Trump.
Before the virus crisis, the Sino-US relationship was already tense two years ago, against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s trade war and customs sanctions against Beijing. The spread of the epidemic raised the dispute between the two countries to new levels.
On the other hand, Wang Yi stressed that the law on “national security” in Hong Kong, which was submitted to the Chinese parliament, should be implemented “without any delay”, at a time when there were clashes between hundreds of demonstrators and security forces in the former British colony.
The pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong fears that the bill, which was passed on Friday to the Beijing parliament, would deal a serious blow to freedoms in the semi-autonomous city.
It is reported that Hong Kong police forces broke up a demonstration using tear gas to protesters rejecting this new law.
