News
China accuses US of politicising global response to COVID-19
The recent U.S. Intelligence Report on COVID-19 Origins has the ugly agenda of politicising the global response to COVID-19 when unity and cooperation is key, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong said yesterday, issuing a statement.
He said that on August 27, a report on COVID-19 origins was hastily released by the U.S. intelligence agencies.
“It took them 90 days to cook this up after an executive order from its President. As predicted, this report couldn’t reach any conclusions, and failed to satisfy the White House’s tireless intention to incriminate China. The only result of this so-called “scientific” report is to make Washington’s circus show and its ugly hidden agenda exposed to all,” he said.
Given below is the statement in full: “The domestic agenda for the U.S. blaming China is to cover its big failure and chaos in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the only superpower with less than 4.3% of the world’s population and the richest medical resources, the U.S. surprised us with over 39.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, accounting for 18% of the global total, and more than 639,000 deaths, around 14.2% of the world. While being incapable of containing the pandemic, the U.S. politicians choose to point fingers at China, fabricating lies, instigating populism and racial hatred, to cover up their failure and shirk their responsibility. We solemnly advise the U.S. that to blame others will not save lives of American people, but only amplify its own incompetence. Facing the grave doubts from its own people and the whole world about its poor governance, the only way out for the U.S. Administration is to uphold science and solidarity fighting against the pandemic.
“The international agenda for the U.S. blaming China is to defame and suppress China by COVID-19 politicisation. Some U.S. politicians obsessed with cold-war mindset become more and more anxious and bewildered when witnessing China’s rapid peaceful growth, in particular China’s successful containment of the pandemic and fast resumption of all work and production. Therefore, out of self-created suspicion, they make a mountain out of a molehill to label China as “the strategic competitor” and “the greatest threat” to the U.S., and hysterically politicise the pandemic and demonise China. They are forcing the scientific origins-tracing into an undisguised political instrument against China, clamouring “accountability”, “compensation” even “boycotting the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics”, etc. However, the U.S. will never make it even though they repeat their lies for a thousand times. Thus far, over 80 countries including Sri Lanka have written to the WHO Director-General to openly voice their opposition to politicising origins-tracing.
“Furthermore, the Biden administration desperately blames China with an intention to distract its huge defeat in Afghanistan. The White House and its intelligence community made repetitious misjudgment and wrong decisions, which only leads to a hasty withdrawal and a big failure, leaving Afghanistan abandoned, all its allies betrayed, and the whole world shocked. In the face of domestic fires of sharp criticism and some calls for President Biden and his main aides to resign, the White House and its intelligence agencies are in dire need of shifting spotlight to save their face and future. That explains why the U.S. intelligence community had no choice but to rush out such a useless report against common sense.
“I would like to point out that it is sheer nonsense for the U.S. to ignore the authoritative WHO-China joint study and accuse China of not being transparent or cooperative on coronavirus origins-tracing. It is actually the U.S. that is not being transparent, responsible and cooperative on this issue. The U.S. has been refusing to respond to the international community’s reasonable doubts on the Fort Detrick biolab and the over 200 overseas bases for biological experiments, trying to cover up the truth and avoid being held responsible. The onus is on the U.S. to give the world an answer.
“We earnestly admonish the U.S. to immediately stop doing anything that poisons the atmosphere for international cooperation on origins-tracing or undermines global solidarity against the pandemic, and return to the right track of science-based origins-tracing and cooperation in the face of the pandemic. For lives’ sake, do something good for its own pandemic control and the global anti-pandemic collaboration.”
The Maldives Coast Guard Ship Huravee which arrived in Sri Lanka for replenishment purposes, departed the island on 04 Mar 26.
In accordance with naval tradition, the Sri Lanka Navy extended a customary farewell to the departing ship at the Port of Colombo
A day after a US submarine sunk an Iranian Navy warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Sayed Abbas Araghchi, has warned that the US would “pay bitterly” for targeting a ship in international waters, The Tribune has reported.
Araghchi posted on social media platform X on Thursday saying, “The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores.”
The frigate IRIS Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning, said the Iran Foreign Minister, adding, “Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”
US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, on Wednesday confirmed that a US submarine fired a torpedo and sank the Iranian Navy vessel IRIS Dena west of Sri Lanka.
In a way, the Iran and US-Israel conflict has reached close to the Indian coast. The strike today at sea was almost 4,000 kms away from Iran, significantly expanding the radius of war. Already, fearing Iranian missile strikes, several US warships have moved eastward towards India.
These ships are in international waters. India has denied that any US Navy assets were using Indian ports. The Iranian ship, hit on Wednesday, was returning after participating in the international fleet review and exercise Milan hosted by India at Visakhapatnam.
The Iranian ship went down with almost 130 sailors on board missing. The Sri Lankan Navy, acting on a distress call, rescued 32 of the Iranian sailors. Hegseth confirmed the act by the US forces, saying the ship was hit in the Indian Ocean, stating, “an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. .. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo”.
Hegseth did not name the Iranian ship that was attacked. But earlier, the Sri Lankan Navy reported the distress call from IRIS Dena when it was some 40 kms west of Galle, located on the south-western part of the island country. On February 16, the Iranian ship had sailed into the port of Visakhapatnam, where seventy-four nations participated.
Warships from Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and dozens of others were anchored alongside the now-sunk Iranian vessel. Iran’s Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, held talks with India’s Chief of Naval Staff on strengthening maritime security cooperation.
The theme was “United through Oceans.” Notably, the US Navy was supposed to send the guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney to the exercise Milan; however, the ship was diverted to Singapore on February 15. The US did not field its warship in Milan, which had ships from Russia and Iran.
The exercise ended on February 25. Three days later, on February 28, the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury. The IRIS Dena was transiting home. This morning at 5:08 a.m. local time, the IRIS Dena issued a distress call. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Vijitha Herath, informed parliament that two navy vessels and an aircraft were deployed. Thirty crew members were rescued and admitted to Karapitiya Hospital in Galle.
The Straits Times reported 32 critically wounded survivors. Reuters reported 101 missing and 78 wounded. The Sri Lankan Navy spokesman said the operation was conducted in line with the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has warned of a possible risk of power cuts due to the use of inferior quality coal affecting generation capacity at the Lakvijaya Power Plant, according to a recent commission report.
The commission said the risk to the continuous electricity supply was assessed based on the peak demand forecast submitted by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) for 2026.
According to the report, the analysis assumed that hydropower plants could contribute up to 1,300 MW to meet the night peak demand, while the Lakvijaya Power Plant (LVPS) would be able to contribute only up to 690 MW due to a capacity shortfall, assuming a 40 MW generation capacity reduction from each unit.
The PUCSL said the assessment was carried out taking into account the planned maintenance schedule submitted by the CEB. Under the schedule, Unit 1 of the Lakvijaya plant is due to undergo maintenance checks and repairs in June for a period of 25 days, while Unit 2 is scheduled for maintenance in July for another 25 days.
The report also noted that the 270 MW West Coast Power Plant is scheduled to undergo maintenance in April for 10 days, while the 150 MW Kelanitissa Combined Cycle Power Plant (KCCP 2) is expected to undergo maintenance during May, June and July.
Under normal conditions, the report said, there is a potential risk of a generation capacity shortage if electricity demand reaches 3,030 MW in April, 3,070 MW in June and 3,000 MW in July.
The highest recorded night peak demand so far in 2026 was 2,949 MW on February 25.
The PUCSL further warned that if one coal unit or any major power plant becomes unavailable from the existing generation mix, there would be a significant risk of a generation capacity shortage to meet the night peak demand, particularly during April, June and July.
Energy sector analysts said the use of substandard coal could further aggravate operational challenges at the Norochcholai plant, potentially affecting generation efficiency and reliability if corrective measures are not taken promptly.
By Ifham Nizam
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