The exchan­ge marks an escala­tion in the bitter war of words betwee­n China and the US over the past weekBeijing accused US President Donald Trump on Friday of trying to “shift the blame” for the global coronavirus pandemic in an escalating row between the two powers. “Some people on the US side are trying to stigmatise China’s fight against the epidemic, and shift the blame onto China,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. The exchange marked an escalation in the bitter war of words between China and the US over the past week. The nationalistic Global Times claimed in several op-eds that his rhetoric is fanning the flames of global xenophobia and anti-Chinese sentiment. Trump has defended his description of the virus, saying it was “not racist at all”.

Source: The Express Tribune March 20, 2020 10:52 UTC