Russia and China butt heads

Russian government has rebutted criticism of it’s handling of the COVID-19 epidemic, after Chinese authorities said that the most significant source of imported coronavirus cases had come from the far northeast, bordering Russia.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied China’s allegations, telling the reporters at the Kremlin presser today: “We hear that there is now an exchange of criticism over coronavirus between different countries, which is played like ping pong. We consider this to be a thankless exercise.”

Beijing’s Global Times newspaper wrote in an editorial on April 13:“The Chinese people have watched Russia become a severely affected country from one that did a great job. This should sound the alarm: China must strictly prevent the inflow of cases and avoid a second outbreak.” The newspaper is run by the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily.

China reported 46 new confirmed cases on Tuesday compared with 89 cases a day earlier, according to the National Health Commission. Of the new cases, 36 involved travelers arriving in the country from overseas, compared with 86 a day earlier.

“China is on guard against imported cases,” the state-owned Global Times wrote in its editorial on Tuesday, saying that the US and Europe are“not ready to restart [their] economy.” It warned that “once the epidemic is repeated in Europe and the US, or spreads around the epicenters worldwide, it will disastrously continue.”

MMP