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Amid the escalation of the conflict between the United States and China, the United States ambassador to China, who was replaced after three years, criticized China’s initial response to the coronavirus. Ambassador Terry Brandstad (73) said in an interview with CNN on the 18th (local time), “What could have ended in Wuhan eventually turned into a global pandemic.”
Branstad has also had a close relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping for 35 years. He was appointed China’s ambassador in July 2017 and watched the situation escalate in the conflict between the United States and China over the past three years. The US embassy in China said on the 14th that Ambassador Branstad will take office and return to Korea in early October.
In an interview with CNN that day, he agreed with US President Donald Trump’s claim that “China is responsible for the corona pandemic.” “China hid it (the coronavirus) and punished the doctors who initially pointed it out,” he said. White House officials such as President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are criticizing China’s response to the coronavirus.
Brandstad has been famous for making friends since the 1980s, when Xi was one of the local officials. In 2012, Xi met Brandstad separately during his visit to the United States. His close relationship with President Xi is one of the reasons why he was appointed ambassador to China. He was one of the first ambassadors to be elected in December 2016, shortly after Trump was elected president. Trump nominated him, then governor of Iowa, for his experience in public policy, trade and agriculture and, above all, for his “long relationship with President Xi Jinping.”
Such criticism of China’s response to the crown came from Brandstad’s mouth. “Xi is a very powerful Chinese leader, but he is a communist (China) is an authoritarian state,” he said. “Unfortunately, we have a very different system.” President Trump said at first: “I tried to believe what China said about the crown, but soon the United States and the world learned that China’s words were false.”
“I really believe that communism in China and an attitude of admitting no mistakes led to this. It is a tragedy. “He added:” Not only in the United States, but also in other countries, there has been a significant decline in the movement to cooperate with China and support China. “
China denies that the response was inappropriate in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. She maintains that allegations that the virus was created in Wuhan are not true.
Branstad also criticized the crackdown on human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Hong Kong and the escalating conflict in the South China Sea. “The Uighur crackdown and China’s behavior in Hong Kong and the South China Sea are losing support,” he said. “What they are doing in India, a neutral country, has caused real problems.” On the border between India and China, the conflict between the two countries caused real clashes between soldiers.
Branstad said, “I’ve been serving longer than the top three ambassadors before” and “I want to go home.” When asked if she would help the Trump campaign, she said: “If the president asks to attend the campaign, she will.”
