WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Beijing of its mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday and described its lack of transparency after learning of the first cases of the virus as a “deep problem” .
In response to a question on NBC News’ “Today,” Blinken accused China of failing to meet its international obligations to provide information on the origins of the Wuhan outbreak in late 2019, which the Chinese communist government is accused of covering up. .
“There is no doubt that especially when COVID-19 first arrives, but even today, China is a long way from marking when it comes to providing the necessary information to the international community, making sure that experts have access to China, ”Blinken said.
“All this lack of transparency, this lack of future is a deep problem,” he continued.
The remarks are the latest salvation between China and the Biden administration, which critics accused would be soft on Beijing after the hard line adopted by the Trump administration.
During his confirmation hearings in the Senate, Blinken supported the statement of predecessor Mike Pompeo that the Chinese treatment of Uyghur Muslims by the Chinese government amounted to “genocide.”
China’s foreign minister reprimanded Blinken in a statement last week, accusing him of “interfering in his internal affairs and undermining his interests.”
In his “Today” interview, Blinken also reprimanded Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government for its crackdown on protesters protesting the recent arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The head of the State Department said he was “deeply upset by the violent crackdown” and revealed that the US was reviewing possible reactions to the mass arrest of Kremlin protesters.
“The Russian government makes a big mistake if it thinks it’s us,” Blinken said after Moscow warned Washington not to impose any new sanctions.
“It simply came to our notice then. It’s about the government. It’s about the frustration the Russian people have with corruption, with autocracy, and I think they have to look inward, not outward, ”he said.
In a call with Putin last week, Biden rebuked his “evil actions” and called for Navalny’s release, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
“The president could not have been clearer in his conversation with President Putin,” Blinken said.