China blames U.S. for growing coronavirus tensions - NBC News

The United States is pushing China to the brink of a "new Cold War," China's foreign minister said as officials in the world's two largest economies continue trading barbs over each other’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

cooperation, dampen American's own development prospects, and put world stability and prosperity in jeopardy,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday in a video news conference on the sidelines of the annual session of China's National People's Congress.

The president, who has previously referred to the outbreak as the "Wuhan virus" or "China virus,” has also accused the World Health Organization of helping Beijing cover up the outbreak.

While it’s believed the pandemic started in a wet market in the city of Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province in December, Trump said last month that he has seen information that gave him high confidence that the outbreak was the result of an accidental release from a Wuhan laboratory, without characterizing the evidence.

On Sunday, the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology called speculation that the coronavirus pandemic originated there “pure fabrication.".

Wang Yanyi told China’s state broadcaster, CGTN, the institute first received a clinical sample of the virus in late December, which after inspection, was determined to contain the new coronavirus.

Wang, the foreign minister, also said Sunday that establishing what he called a legal system and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security in Hong Kong has become “a pressing priority” in light of mass protests last year over a controversial extradition bill and alleged foreign meddling in Hong Kong affairs