Chinese lawmakers denounce COVID-19 bills at US Congress as typical 'political manipulation'

BEIJING - Some US Congress members' bills accusing China of lacking transparency or being responsible for the novel coronavirus spread in the United States are nothing but "political manipulation," Chinese lawmakers have said.

"China has strictly followed the procedures stipulated by law and released the information at the earliest possible time," said Zheng Shuna, a deputy to the National People's Congress, the country's national legislature, noting that a detailed timeline on China's COVID-19 response has been released.

Zheng said it has been proven that the Chinese government has taken the most comprehensive, rigorous and thorough measures to promptly cut off the chain of virus transmission, and the accusation that lacking transparency in China led to delays in the US epidemic response is a fallacy.

Xu Anbiao said identifying the source of the virus is a serious question of science, which must be carefully studied by scientists and medical experts.

Chinese health professionals and scientists were the first to share with the world the full genome sequence of the novel coronavirus and the first to isolate the virus strain, actively exploring treatment methods and developing test kits, thus making tremendous contribution to the global fight against the disease, Xu added.

Yu Zhigang said some US Congress members in their bills groundlessly shifted the blame onto China or even unreasonably asked the US government to bring litigations against China.

The bills, which have no logic at all, have exposed these people's appalling arrogance and paranoia, Yu said.

He said the attempt to claim damages from China has violated the principle of sovereign equality enshrined in the international law, challenged the internationally recognized principle of sovereign immunity, and disturbed the normal international order, Yu said.

Shifting the blame and shirking responsibility will not help contain the virus, said Chen Fuli, adding that only by strengthening global cooperation and supporting the World Health Organization in playing its role can countries in the world defeat the virus.

"As the novel coronavirus is still raging through the world, attacking and smearing China without seeing the facts is nothing but spreading another political virus," Chen said.