China’s top diplomat says US wasting time, ignoring lives in fight against coronavirus

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi accused U.S. lawmakers of wasting time and ignoring lives as coronavirus continues to spread. 

“Regretfully, in addition to the raging coronavirus, a political virus is also spreading in the United States. This political virus is using every opportunity to attack and smear China,” Wang, who is also China’s foreign minister, said at his annual news conference on Sunday, according to Reuters. 

He said some politicians have “ignored the most basic facts and concocted too many lies about China and plotted too many conspiracies.”

“I want to say here: Don’t waste precious time any longer, and don’t ignore lives,” Wang reportedly said. “What China and the United States need to do the most is to first learn from each other and share their experience in fighting against the epidemic, and help each country fight it.”

He said China is prepared to work with the U.S. in the spirit of cooperation and mutual respect, according to Reuters. 

Tensions between China and the U.S. have intensified amid the pandemic. 

U.S. officials have accused China of a lack of transparency surrounding information about the coronavirus, which is thought to have originated in Wuhan, China. 

Missouri became the first U.S. state to sue Beijing over its response to the coronavirus in a suit filed last month. 

Yang said such lawsuits lacked any legal basis, Reuters reports.

“The China of today is not the China of a century ago, and nor is the world,” he reportedly said.

“If you want to infringe upon China’s sovereignty and dignity with indiscriminate litigation, and extort the fruits of the hard work of the Chinese people, I am afraid this is a daydream and you’ll only humiliate yourself.”