China seizes on Trump comment US started working on coronavirus vaccine in January to deny cover-up claims
- State media say the US president’s comments ‘prove’ Covid-19 was spreading in America early this year and he and other politicians are lying
- Trump told press briefing that scientists began research hours after Chinese researchers shared virus’s genetic sequence online
China’s official media have again sought to defend Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus, seizing on Donald Trump’s comments that the US government had started working on a Covid-19 vaccine in early January.
In a series of articles and social media posts over the weekend, state media outlets used the statement to rebut charges that the virus had originated in the country and the authorities had failed to share early information with the rest of the world.
“This proves the novel coronavirus had been spreading in the United States before January 11, and Trump and some American politicians and media are lying,” People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, posted on its Weibo account on Saturday.
China is set to come under pressure on Monday when the World Health Assembly meets in Geneva.
A coalition of countries is expected to call for an investigation into the source of the virus, which was identified in China late last year.
