Beijing accused US President Donald Trump of trying to "shift the blame" for the global Covid-19 pandemic in an escalating row between the two powers.
Mr Trump said yesterday that the world is "paying a big price" for China's lack of transparency on the outbreak when it emerged in the central city of Wuhan late last year.
China has been criticised for suppressing information and punishing whistleblowers during the early stages of the contagion, which an AFP tally shows has now killed nearly 10,000 people with more than 232,000 cases worldwide. "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. "This approach ignores the great