#Mike Pompeo again rips China for not sharing coronavirus data

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ramped up his attacks on China Thursday, asserting that the Communist government “was aware of human-to-human transmission” of the coronavirus “before they shared this with the world.”

Pompeo made the comments on Fox News in response to claims by Hong Kong-based virologist Dr. Yan Li-Meng, who recently fled to the US, that Beijing knew that the virus could spread between humans three weeks before that knowledge was made public.

“The World Health Organization itself was co-opted into the same effort to deny the world the knowledge it needed to respond to this threat, to this threat from the virus that emanated from Wuhan, China,” Pompeo said.

The secretary of state spoke a day after telling The Hill during a virtual summit that he believed the rest of the world would make China “pay a price” for their mishandling of the outbreak, which originated in Wuhan Province.

“I can see nations who are doing business in China who are rethinking about how to do that,” he told Fox.

“If you are buying products that are a result of the slave labor that’s happening in the western part of China, if you’re a country that’s bent the knee to China because they tried to come fish in your waters that are rightly yours … I can see nations all around the world that are reasserting their claims, their sovereignty.

“And of course President Trump’s done that here too,” Pompeo added. “For 40 years — this isn’t partisan — for 40 years, we’ve had administrations that have just looked the other way and allowed China to trample on us. President Trump said, ‘No more.’”

Pompeo noted that Japan and Australia have supported the US decision to reject most of Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.

“Countries, not only in Southeast Asia, but in Asia more broadly … have come to understand the threat that the Chinese Communist Party presents. The United States slept on this for too long. I think they all did too and I think they’re coming to a joint conclusion that it’s time for the world to make sure that we get this right,” he continued.

“For democracies and freedom-loving people around the world, it is an imperative that we push back against the challenge that the Chinese Communist Party presents to us all.”

Pompeo has slammed China in recent days on a number of issues, including the security crackdown in Hong Kong and military maneuvers in the South China Sea as well as the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed about 137,000 Americans and continues to spread across the US.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying fired back on Twitter, calling Pompeo a liar — and citing a Harvard University study that said the Chinese people “favored” their government by a wide margin.

“It’s absurd and evil for LYING #Pompeo (proud of lying, cheating and stealing) to talk about credibility. The #CPC enjoys the highest rate of support and satisfaction among the Chinese people, as over 90% according to international surveys and the latest by Harvard University,” Hua tweeted.

China has also denied withholding information from other countries.