British Conservative MP Shi Zhian wrote an article in The Sun on Sunday (17), saying that China (the Chinese Communist Party) had known that the new coronavirus could be passed from person to person, but chose to hide the outbreak in order to reach a trade deal with the United States. Foreign Secretary Lan Taowen was interviewed by the BBC on Sunday, indicating that Britain should not talk about free trade agreements with countries that violate human rights.
In an article titled “Despicable China hides epidemic to secure US$1 trillion (HK$7.8 trillion) deal”, Shih said that since the outbreak last year, World health Organization Director-General Tan Desai praised China for its “promptness and transparency” in preventing the epidemic, but the truth is that the Chinese government hid the truth and knew from the beginning that the virus would spread from person to person, and even suppressed doctors and journalists who pursued their responsibilities.
The Chinese side is seeking to make the United States suspend trade sanctions against Beijing and avoid another $1 trillion in economic losses, while deliberately concealing the disease to buy time until the two sides successfully sign a trade agreement, Shih said. He said any news of an out-of-control epidemic in China would destroy the U.S.-China trade deal and cause great harm to the economy.
Britain plans to introduce a new law to ban imports of Xinjiang goods suspected of forced labor production, and some lawmakers are calling for more measures to consider a bill passed earlier by the House of Lords that would authorize the courts to prevent Britain from reaching free trade agreements with countries that have committed genocide. Lan Taowen said the threshold is set quite high, but also pointed out that even if there are countries have not reached the degree of genocide, but as long as there are violations of human rights, the United Kingdom should not carry out free trade negotiations with it. He also said that the decision should not be decided by the court, because the court does not have enough resources to decide whether a country has committed genocide. Some analysts say that his remarks are criticizing the EU’s China-EU Investment Agreement with China without naming it.
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