<p>Beijing has sought New Delhi’s support to counter the attempt by the United States, not only to brand the Covid-19 as a “Chinese Virus”, but also to accuse China of failing to detect and stop the new coronavirus and to warn the world about it early enough.</p>.<p>External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a discussion over phone on Tuesday – just two days ahead of a virtual G20 summit on the Covid-19 pandemic.</p>.<p>Wang told Jaishankar that the US attempts to stigmatize China was “not acceptable and detrimental to international cooperation”. He expressed hope that India would oppose the comments made by the US President Donald Trump and other senior officials of his administration branding the Covid-19 as a “Chinese Virus”, China’s ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, said.</p>.<p>Wang also holds the office of State Councilor in the Chinese Government.</p>.<p>“Wang Yi said it’s (it is) not acceptable and detrimental to international cooperation to label the virus and stigmatize China, hope India oppose (opposes) such narrow mindset,” Sun posted on Twitter. “Dr. Jaishankar agreed not to label the virus and the international community should send (a) strong signal of solidarity,” added Beijing’s envoy to New Delhi.</p>.<p>Jaishankar, himself, also tweeted about his talks with Wang over phone, but refrained from making any direct comment on US-China blame game on the pandemic.</p>.<p>“Discussed with State Councilor and FM Wang Yi of #China our working together in combating #COVID19 (Covid-19). Agreed to build further on our bilateral efforts in this domain. Exchanged views on the forthcoming #G20 Summit,” the External Affairs Minister tweeted. He, however, underlined that “global challenges” required “global cooperation”.</p>.<p>The Covid-19 virus was previously unknown before the outbreak began at Wuhan in China in December 2019. The virus has now caused a pandemic around the world, infecting close to 400,000 people around the world and killed over 17000 people.</p>.<p>Nearly 100,000 people have recovered from the disease though.</p>.<p>Nudged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who now holds the presidency of the G20, convened an extraordinary virtual summit of the bloc on Thursday to work out “a coordinated response” to the Covid-19 pandemic and its “human and economic implications”.</p>.<p>Modi, Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the other G20 nations are expected to take part in the virtual G20 summit and discuss ways to alleviate the impact of the pandemic and work out a coordinated set of policies to protect people and safeguard the global economy.</p>
<p>Beijing has sought New Delhi’s support to counter the attempt by the United States, not only to brand the Covid-19 as a “Chinese Virus”, but also to accuse China of failing to detect and stop the new coronavirus and to warn the world about it early enough.</p>.<p>External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a discussion over phone on Tuesday – just two days ahead of a virtual G20 summit on the Covid-19 pandemic.</p>.<p>Wang told Jaishankar that the US attempts to stigmatize China was “not acceptable and detrimental to international cooperation”. He expressed hope that India would oppose the comments made by the US President Donald Trump and other senior officials of his administration branding the Covid-19 as a “Chinese Virus”, China’s ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, said.</p>.<p>Wang also holds the office of State Councilor in the Chinese Government.</p>.<p>“Wang Yi said it’s (it is) not acceptable and detrimental to international cooperation to label the virus and stigmatize China, hope India oppose (opposes) such narrow mindset,” Sun posted on Twitter. “Dr. Jaishankar agreed not to label the virus and the international community should send (a) strong signal of solidarity,” added Beijing’s envoy to New Delhi.</p>.<p>Jaishankar, himself, also tweeted about his talks with Wang over phone, but refrained from making any direct comment on US-China blame game on the pandemic.</p>.<p>“Discussed with State Councilor and FM Wang Yi of #China our working together in combating #COVID19 (Covid-19). Agreed to build further on our bilateral efforts in this domain. Exchanged views on the forthcoming #G20 Summit,” the External Affairs Minister tweeted. He, however, underlined that “global challenges” required “global cooperation”.</p>.<p>The Covid-19 virus was previously unknown before the outbreak began at Wuhan in China in December 2019. The virus has now caused a pandemic around the world, infecting close to 400,000 people around the world and killed over 17000 people.</p>.<p>Nearly 100,000 people have recovered from the disease though.</p>.<p>Nudged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who now holds the presidency of the G20, convened an extraordinary virtual summit of the bloc on Thursday to work out “a coordinated response” to the Covid-19 pandemic and its “human and economic implications”.</p>.<p>Modi, Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the other G20 nations are expected to take part in the virtual G20 summit and discuss ways to alleviate the impact of the pandemic and work out a coordinated set of policies to protect people and safeguard the global economy.</p>
