|
Tariffs, in general, hurt all parties involved, Chinese foreign
ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a daily
briefing.
"So the United States should stop thinking it can use tariffs as
a weapon and a big stick to coerce other countries," she said.
Trump said on Friday that raising tariffs on China was
"certainly an option" as he considers ways to retaliate for the
coronavirus pandemic.
The new virus emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late
last year and has spread around the world, infecting some 3.6
million people and killing more than 255,000 of them, according
to a Reuters tally.
The United States has had 1.2 million infections and more than
71,000 deaths.
China's economy shrank 6.8% in the first quarter as economic
activity largely ground to a halt because of lockdowns ordered
to stop the virus, and it would suffer more pain if the United
States were to impose more tariffs.
Hua urged the United States not to try to divert attention from
its own mismanagement of its coronavirus epidemic by shifting
blame onto China.
"What has the U.S. done in the past few months? How did it allow
the outbreak to develop to the stage today? Is this how a
government should be responsible to its people?" she asked.
"The most urgent task is to control the outbreak in the U.S. and
to save as many lives as possible ... Saving lives should take
precedence over political self-interest," she said.
Hua repeated how China had taken swift action such as notifying
the World Health Organization and countries including the United
States as early as Jan. 3 about the coronavirus.
Hua said accusations that China deliberately spread the virus,
as some U.S. officials have speculated, were baseless.
(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian; writing by Se Young Lee; Editing by
Andrew Heavens, Robert Birsel)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
