The United States questioned Thursday the "credibility" of the figures communicated by China concerning the resurgence of cases of new coronavirus in Beijing, calling for the dispatch of "neutral" observers . The Chinese Ministry of Health has reported 158 cases since last week in the Chinese capital which has 21 million inhabitants, while ensuring that the epidemic was "under control" . "I would like to believe that their numbers" are "closer to reality than what has been seen in Wuhan and other parts of China, but that remains to be seen," the secretary said. Deputy State for East Asia, David Stilwell.
Washington accuses the Chinese authorities of having lied on their official balance sheet, which currently reports nearly 83,300 cases including more than 4,600 deaths since the Covid-19 disease was first reported in the city of Wuhan in late 2019. Donald Trump's government also estimates that Beijing has concealed the scale and initial severity of the epidemic, which has facilitated the spread of the virus that has killed more than 450,000 people around the world and forced governments to contain their populations. and therefore shut down their economy.
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“When it comes to data, credibility is important. And once you've lost all credibility, it's very difficult to find it, " said David Stilwell, citing " very credible and unpoliticized assessments from scientific publications " that it would simply be " impossible " for the official Chinese balance sheet corresponds to reality when it could be "ten times" higher. According to him, "the only way" to "restore" the credibility of China would be "to accept the deployment of neutral observers who help to understand exactly what happened" at the beginning of the pandemic.
The diplomat assured that the American secretary of state Mike Pompeo had expressed clearly this request for "transparency" to the high Chinese official Yang Jiechi during their crisis meeting Wednesday in Hawaii. The controversy over the management of the coronavirus has markedly damaged the already strained relations between the first two world powers.