German Chancellor Angela Merkel is not demanding that China pay damages for the coronavirus pandemic, opting not to follow President Trump’s lead.
“Fighting the pandemic is the priority right now,” a German official told the Washington Examiner. “The question of compensation does not arise.”
Trump discussed the prospect of extracting a penalty from China earlier this week. The communist regime has taken much of the blame for the contagion that has claimed more than 200,000 lives globally and now paralyzes much of the world economy. Various Western leaders have criticized China, but Trump has moved further than most with threats to punish China.
“We haven’t determined the final amount yet,” Trump added. “It’s very substantial. If you take a look at the world — I mean, this is worldwide damage. This is damage to the U.S., but this is damage to the world.”
Trump and other U.S. officials have denounced China’s mishandling of the coronavirus repeatedly in recent weeks, faulting the Chinese Communist Party for censoring the early warnings that might have prevented the novel coronavirus from developing into an international crisis.
Chinese officials and state-run media have responded to such criticisms by threatening to withhold medical equipment from vulnerable countries that criticize them.
“A decisive factor when it comes to fighting a pandemic is close international cooperation on the procurement of necessary equipment and the distribution of medication and vaccines. However, another decisive factor is transparency,” the German official said. “This is something the German government has made very clear to the Chinese government.”
Some Western leaders have echoed U.S. complaints and called for an investigation into the pandemic, including the apparent shortcomings of the World Health Organization’s response to false information provided by Beijing. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, a former German defense minister, joined those calls on Friday, stressing the need to ensure that “we have learned our lesson and we’ve established a system of early warning that really functions.” WHO officials have defended their own record but agreed this week that China should invite WHO experts to participate in an investigation.
Yet Germany, while acknowledging the frustration with China’s lack of transparency, extended an olive branch eastward following Trump’s comments about a bill. “It is crucial that China plays a constructive role when it comes to answering open questions,” the German official said. “We strongly support the WHO’s efforts in fighting the pandemic, and we do acknowledge China’s contributions.”
