US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives a press briefing at the end of a NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 24 March 2021.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's playing a threadbare blame game in an attempt to pressure China was ridiculed by netizens on Twitter, as a clear, widely recognized timeline of the handling of the outbreak has already been released and China cannot be blamed for the failure of the US government in its handling of the epidemic, which has caused about 562,000 deaths in the country.
In an interview with NBC on Sunday, Blinken said China "didn't do what it needed to do" in the early stages, it hindered the sharing of information with global experts and the handling of the outbreak lacked transparency, resulting in the virus spreading faster than expected.
The US official also said it was necessary for the world to "get to the bottom of" the question of the virus origins.
This criticism sounded familiar to many netizens, not only in China but also overseas, as the Trump administration repeatedly blamed China for the pandemic over the past year, hyping up "holding China accountable for spreading the virus" . This repeated rhetoric prompted some netizens to say that "Pompeo is back", as shifting blame and dodging responsibility were classic measures used by the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"The US didn't do what it needed to do ever during the pandemic. You're upset that China didn't go into full lockdown for an unidentified infectious outbreak. I remember NYT [New York Times] ghouls claiming China was authoritarian for its lockdown measures. Now it wasn't authoritarian enough?" a Twitter user commented on Blinken's post.
"Tony Pompeo, Mike Blinken? Who's who? What will be the next combination to get exactly the same policies at an ever skyrocketing cost?" another netizen said in a separate post, publishing a picture of the interchanged faces of these two secretaries of state to ridicule Blinken for repeating his predecessor's old blame game.
Other netizens also echoed this opinion, pointing out that the US had months to notify the public and take effective measures to contain the virus spread but instead did nothing.
The US has recorded the highest number of confirmed coronavirus infection and death cases. Many Chinese observers called the US "the biggest loser of 2020", the year for humanity to battle with COVID-19. US' failed response, chaotic governance and irresponsible attitude also led the country to lose both the moral and political high ground.