{ "error": "", "type": "text", "title": "Secretary Michael R. Pompeo at a Press Availability - China and COVID-19", "slug": "secretary-michael-r-pompeo-at-a-press-availability-china-and-covid-19", "text": "
\"Good morning, everyone. It\u2019s been 128 days since Chinese doctor Ai Fen \u2013 the director of the Wuhan Central Hospital\u2019s emergency unit \u2013 shared information on the internet about a patient with a SARS-like virus. Her colleague, Dr. Li Wenliang, shared Dr. Ai\u2019s report online with medical colleagues.<\/p>\n
The next day, December 31st, regional health officials in Wuhan indicated they were treating dozens of patients with an unknown viral pneumonia. And within days, Chinese officials detained Dr. Li and seven others for \u201cspreading false statements on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n
China saw then that it had an emerging public health crisis on its hands. They knew. China could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. China could have spared the world a descent into global economic malaise. They had a choice.<\/p>\n
But instead, instead China covered up the outbreak in Wuhan. Its National Health Commission ordered virus samples destroyed on January 3rd. China \u201cdisappeared\u201d brave Chinese citizens who raised alarms. It deployed its propaganda organs to denounce those who politely called for simple transparency.<\/p>\n
And that brings us to today, 120 days on. China is still refusing to share the information we need to keep people safe, such as viral isolates, clinical specimens, and details about the many COVID-19 patients in December 2019, not to mention \u201cpatient zero.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our truth-telling and calls for transparency aren\u2019t about politics. It\u2019s not about bullying. It\u2019s not about blame. It\u2019s about the ongoing need to save American lives. This is an ongoing threat today. Ask medical professionals in New York City. I think they\u2019ll agree with that.<\/p>\n
We need countries to share reliable data in a timely way \u2013 now, and the next time that a calamity like this hits. We need reliable partners.<\/p>\n
As a result of China\u2019s choices, countries are starting to understand the risk of doing business with the Chinese Communist Party and taking action to protect their people. A few examples. In recent weeks, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, and France have demarched the Chinese Communist Party ambassadors for a whole host of lies and misdeeds.<\/p>\n
Spain has returned defective test kits made in China. That country, the Czech Republic, other nations have received shoddy PPE, as well. The Australians and the Swedes have called for an independent review into the outbreak. And my friend Dominic Raab has said that the United Kingdom can\u2019t go back to, quote, \u201cbusiness as usual,\u201d end of quote, with Beijing. Even the EU\u2019s foreign affairs chief admitted that Brussels has been, quote, \u201ca little naive,\u201d end of quote, about China.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m heartened by this newfound realism. The free nations of the world are starting to understand that China doesn\u2019t share those democratic values that we hold dear, or their economic interests, and that this matters to the entire world.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no true \u201cwin-win\u201d with a communist regime, unless you get to the fair terms that President Trump has talked about and the reciprocity that President Trump did in the phase one trade deal. Now countries have a chance to further insist on what\u2019s right for their people.<\/p>\n
Today I want to call upon all nations, including those in Europe, to support Taiwan\u2019s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly and in other relevant United Nations venues. I also call upon WHO Director-General Tedros to invite Taiwan to observe this month\u2019s WHA, as he has the power to do, and as his predecessors have done on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n
Turning to the subject of those who are trying to do good around the world. Today, the United States is committing an additional $130 million in global health and refugee assistance, bringing our total devoted to fighting COVID-19 to more than $900 million in more than 120 countries. Congress has provided $2.4 billion in total.<\/p>\n
This new tranche of funding provides more than more than $40 million in additional funds for countries in the Indo-Pacific, prioritizing places like India and Bangladesh and Indonesia. [...]
A couple of quick items, and then I\u2019ll take a handful of questions. First, I mentioned Hong Kong last week. Right now we are delaying our report to Congress that will assess Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy, to allow us to account for any additional actions that Beijing may be contemplating in the run-up to the National People\u2019s Congress that would further undermine the people of Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy as promised by China when they entered the agreement with the people of Hong Kong. [...]<\/p>
QUESTION:<\/strong> On China, what do you mean when you say there is enormous amount of evidence that the virus is from the Wuhan lab? The reason I ask is because Army General Mark Milley said yesterday that we don\u2019t know if the virus emerged from the Wuhan lab. Separately, when the COVID-19 was gaining momentum in January and early February, did Chinese officials reassure American officials that it was under control and would be resolved on its own, maybe because of the warming weather? Do you feel they misled you? Is the administration pondering punitive measures on China? Thank you.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> So I\u2019ll take the questions in sequence. So I saw General Milley\u2019s statements. Entirely consistent with what I think everyone in the administration has said, including President Trump. The Intelligence Community is still figuring out precisely where this virus began. Here\u2019s how this could get solved really quickly: The Chinese Community Party could do what they\u2019re committed to do under their obligations to the World Health Organization, to be transparent, to be open, to do the simple things that nations all around the world do to make sure that pandemics like this don\u2019t get out of control, and in fact, importantly, stay out of control. I mentioned the number of days. This is an ongoing challenge. We still don\u2019t have the samples that we need. We still don\u2019t have the access. We collectively, the world, don\u2019t have the samples. It\u2019s not even just that in the moment they couldn\u2019t do the right thing; they continue to be opaque and they continue to deny access for this important information that our researchers, our epidemiologists need.<\/p>\n And importantly, this could happen again. This \u2013 these are the kinds of risks. This is why \u2013 this is why when I see people say, well, America is bullying the Chinese \u2013 we\u2019re demanding of them only what we demand of every nation, right. Be transparent. Be open. Be a reliable partner. The very things they say \u2013 the Chinese say they want to cooperate. Great. Cooperation is about action. It\u2019s about opening up. It\u2019s about sharing this information.<\/p>\n So the details of where patient zero, where this began, are things that are knowledge that\u2019s in the possession of only the Chinese Communist Party. They\u2019re the ones that can help unlock that. If they need technical assistance, we\u2019re happy to provide that assistance to them. We do need \u2013 the world needs answers to these questions for not only the current moment but so that we can make sure that we reduce the risk that something like this could ever happen again with thousands and thousands of lives lost and enormous economic cost to the entire world.<\/p>\n As for the details, I think we\u2019ve \u2013 the administration has laid out a timeline of what we\u2019ve seen. It is pretty clear that at the front end of this the Chinese Communist Party misled the world. That is, they knew more and they didn\u2019t share that, and they had an obligation to do so under the International Health Regulations that they are required to adhere to under World Health obligation\u2013 World Health Organization\u2019s rules set. They didn\u2019t do that. The World Health Organization also failed to do that. And it\u2019s not only that they didn\u2019t enforce, but the World Health Organization needs to still demand that there be an investigation. Dr. Tedros needs to be just as concerned as the United States and Australia and other countries are that we still don\u2019t have access to the answers we need.<\/p>\n These are important issues that are ongoing, real issues, and we need to get them resolved. [...]<\/p> QUESTION: <\/strong>Secretary, thank you very much. You mentioned Dr. Ai Fen right at the top.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>Yes.<\/p>\n QUESTION: <\/strong>And I wanted to zoom in on something specifically you said about her. She\u2019s discussed publicly in an interview that has since disappeared many of the facts you mentioned, except for one. You said that then National Health Commission ordered samples destroyed on the third; I believe that\u2019s new. Is that based on evidence that you have or is that based on public reporting? And to zoom out a little bit on China, the U.S. and the EU, the EU has not joined your call to investigate China. At the beginning, as you know, the U.S. didn\u2019t participate in the EU vaccine donors conference. Are the U.S. and the EU on the same page when it comes to China and COVID-19?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>Let me see what I can get you that supports the statement that I made, see if we can get you material. I\u2019ll make sure the team does that. Second, so the EU held a donors conference. China was there. So the party that perpetrated this, right \u2013 this began in Wuhan, China \u2013 was there, and we regretted there wasn\u2019t a call for transparency from them. I think that\u2019s always appropriate. They \u2013 it turned out, as I understand it, the Chinese Communist Party didn\u2019t show up with a dime either.<\/p>\n I talked about all of the assistance that we\u2019ve provided, we will continue to provide. If you look at the response around the world, who it is that\u2019s actually leading the response to this global pandemic, it is not close. It is the United States of America, and it will continue to be so.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll continue to work with our partners all across the EU, not just the French, the Brits, and the Germans, who sometimes are conflated with \u201cthe EU.\u201d We\u2019re working with countries all across Europe. We think they are coming to see, just as the United States sees with great clarity, how this came to be, how it could have been different, and importantly, the things that need to change both now to prevent the ongoing crisis \u2013 the things I talked about in my opening remarks \u2013 and the things that need to change such that we reduce the risk that something like this ever happens again. I think the people all across Europe are seeing how this came to be, and they are not going to tolerate business as usual as we move forward. [...]<\/p> QUESIOTN [QUESTION; misspelling in original document]: <\/strong>Mr. Secretary, hello. I just want to go back to Nike\u2019s question, because it\u2019s kind of puzzling. You had all of these statements. General Milley, she mentioned about the \u2013 he doesn\u2019t know. Dr. Fauci said there was evidence that strongly indicated the virus evolved in nature, not in a lab \u2014<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>Yeah, no, that\u2019s all \u2013 that\u2019s all consistent. That\u2019s all \u2014<\/p>\n QUESTION: <\/strong>There are reports that intelligence-sharing among Five Eyes shows it\u2019s very unlikely it came from a lab.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>Barbara, Barbara, we\u2019ve been through it. Barbara \u2014<\/p>\n QUESTION: <\/strong>And so on. So I\u2019m just wondering \u2014<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n QUESTION: <\/strong>And also, the IC statement last week doesn\u2019t sort of talk about any evidence. Are you basing your assertion on information \u2014<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>Barbara.<\/p>\n QUESTION: <\/strong>That all of these parties do not have? And a second question about the \u2014<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>Barbara, Barbara. Let me just put this to bed. Your efforts to try and find, just, to spend your whole life trying to drive a little wedge between senior American officials, it\u2019s just \u2013 it\u2019s just \u2014<\/p>\n QUESTION: <\/strong> No, we\u2019re wondering where this strong evidence you\u2019re talking about \u2013 because you\u2019re the only one who\u2019s saying that.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>Barbara, every one of those statements is entirely consistent. Every one of them. Lay them down together, there\u2019s no separation. We\u2019re all trying to figure out the right answer, we\u2019re all trying to get to clarity. There are different levels of certainty assessed at different places; that\u2019s highly appropriate. People stare at data sets and come to different levels of confidence. Every one of us stares at this and knows the reality. The reality is this came from Wuhan. Every one of us stares at this situation and says, who can provide the answer to precisely where patient zero was from, where this actually came from? We all know who can unlock the keys to that. Every one of those leaders, whether it\u2019s Dr. Fauci or General Milley, or myself, or the President, we all know how to get to this answer. That\u2019s where the focus needs to be. It\u2019s where our focus is.<\/p>\n QUESTION: <\/strong>And have you made a formal request? Have you asked the CDC to make a formal request for data access to the Wuhan lab?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>Yeah, there have been many \u2013 there have been \u2013 that\u2019s a great question. There have been many formal requests, and we will continue to make formal requests for this information.<\/p>\n QUESTION: <\/strong>Did you get a formal response from Beijing?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO: <\/strong>You should ask Ambassador Cui, who had a great op-ed this morning, and I can\u2019t wait for my daily column in the China Daily News.\"<\/p>",
"quote": null,
"citation": "