Apr 11, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Secretary of State Blinken slams Chinese government for "failure" to cooperate on COVID

Ivana Saric

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticized the Chinese government for its lack of transparency in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday's "Meet the Press," and called for a more thorough investigation into the of the origins of COVID-19.

Why it matters: Investigating the origins of the virus has been hallmarked by geopolitical tensions, and U.S. officials have expressed skepticism about a report assembled by the World Health Organization and China.

What they're saying: "As we’re dealing with COVID-19, we also have to put in place a stronger global health security system to make sure that this doesn’t happen again or, if it does happen again, we’re able to mitigate it, to get ahead of it," Blinken said.

"And that means making a real commitment to transparency, to information sharing, to access for experts," he added. "It means strengthening the World Health Organization and reforming it so it can do that."
"I think China knows that in the early stages of COVID, it didn’t do what it needed to do, which was to, in real time, give access to international experts, in real time to share information, in real time to provide real transparency."
"And one result of that failure is that the vaccine – the virus, excuse me – got out of hand faster and with I think much more egregious results than it might otherwise."

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Secretary of State Blinken slams Chinese government for "failure" to cooperate on COVID

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