Coronavirus: Chinese news agency accuses ‘cold-blooded’ US of ‘shifting blame’ to cover up virus mistakes

Chinese state media has blasted Donald Trump and seemingly gloated about the number of coronavirus infections in the US.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency has published a scathing attack on the United States, accusing it of being a “self-centred”, “cold-blooded” and incompetent world power.

The editorial, published on Wednesday and entitled ‘Bashing China over pandemic despicable, futile’, appeared to be in response to US President Donald Trump’s claim on Monday that China could have stopped the coronavirus before it swept across the globe.

“(The Trump administration) is shifting blame to China to cover up its own opacity, inability and unaccountability in handling the outbreak in the United States,” the article said.

“If the Trump administration is truly responsible for the American people, sensible and capable of responding to the epidemic, it should stop shifting blame to China, and explain to the world what it has done and what happened in the United States,” it added.

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Mr Trump has been critical of China over its handling of the pandemic. Picture: AP/Evan Vucci

The article also blasted Mr Trump over his support for an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, describing it as a “smear on China”.

“The US smear on China over the COVID-19 pandemic's source and handling has heightened its self-centred and cold-blooded mentality that downgrades its status as a responsible and competent power,” the article said.

“China has made it clear what it has done to make information available for the rest of the world on epidemic prevention and control. The issue of tracing virus origins is so complicated, and no tenable conclusion could be made so far,” it added.

State-run Global Times also attacked the US with an editorial headlined: 1 million COVID-19 infections show US no super power.

“The US is home to more than 300 million people. If the same proportion of infections were to have occurred in China, a country with over 1.4 billion people, 4 million people would have been infected, about 50 times more than the actually number of reported cases,” it stated.

“Chinese people won’t allow their country to suffer vast infections like the US. The US hasn’t been in chaos, not because Americans have willingly accepted their sufferings from COVID-19 but because they are in too much despair to fight,” the editorial gloated.

“US way of social organisations have shown an inability to contain the coronavirus, while politicians are busy focusing on elections, and US society is in a mess and incapable of mobilising a nationwide battle against COVID-19. Ordinary Americans can only take care of themselves.”

Most scientists believe the virus originated in bats and likely jumped to humans at a wet market in Wuhan. But last week, Mr Trump said US intelligence officials were investigating whether the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.

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Mr Morrison says its “entirely reasonable” for the world to want more information about the origins of the virus. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also been lampooned by Chinese media this week over his support for a probe.

On Tuesday, the state-controlled People’s Daily accused Mr Morrison of trying to divert attention away from his handling of the country’s devastating bushfires.

“The deeply troubled Morrison government is anxious to find an outlet for the domestic public’s anger,” the report said. “They are using an old trick to try and blame China.”

The People’s Daily said Mr Morrison’s call for an independent inquiry would fail, and both France and the United Kingdom would reject it.

“This is a slap on the face which has come quickly,” it warned.

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China says it has been open and transparent about the virus since it emerged in December. Picture: Xie Huanchi/Xinhua/AP

But the government is standing firm, despite fears the Sino-Australian relationship could deteriorate to a new low.

On Wednesday, Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra that it was both “entirely reasonable” and “sensible” for the world to want more information.

“This is a virus that has taken more than 200,000 lives across the world,” he said. “Now, it would seem entirely reasonable and sensible that the world would want to have an independent assessment of how this all occurred, so we can learn the lessons and prevent it from happening again.”

More than 6700 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Australia since the pandemic began, and 90 people have died. The US has reported more than one million cases and at least 58,000 deaths.

“The pandemic is far from over,” the Xinhua editorial warned.

“China will not be intimidated and will continue to consolidate the progress it has made in epidemic prevention and control until the final victory is secured.”