(cnbc.com
>China’s foreign ministry on Monday objected to the expression “Wuhan coronavirus” — saying the name will “stigmatize” the country — following remarks from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The objection marks the latest from Beijing leaders and the country’s state-controlled media, which have gone as far as to claim that the coronavirus outbreak, which was first reported in the central province of Hubei, may not have started in China at all.
The new coronavirus was first reported to the World Health Organization in December last year, after emerging in the central city of Wuhan. Since then, COVID-19 has spread to more than 100 countries, infected over 100,000 people and killed at least 3,800 globally. Most of those infected and killed so far were in China.
Asked about Pompeo’s use of the term at a scheduled press briefing on Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry said it was a “despicable practice” to call the virus the “Wuhan coronavirus.”
>“Despite the fact that the WHO has officially named this novel type of coronavirus, (a) certain American politician, disrespecting science and the WHO decision, jumped at the first chance to stigmatize China and Wuhan with it. We condemn this despicable practice,” said Geng Shuang, a ministry spokesperson. He was commenting on Pompeo’s use of the term “Wuhan coronavirus.”
>“It is highly irresponsible for some media to dub it ‘China virus,’” said Zhao Lijian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson last Wednesday. “We firmly oppose that.”
However, respected AIDS researcher David Ho said the coronavirus very likely originated from China. He told the Voice of America (VOA) last week that given what researchers know about SARS, COVID-19 and coronaviruses found in other animal species, “I have very little doubt that the origin is China.”
