13.05.2020, Washington.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a bill called the “COVID-19 Accountability Act” to the United States Senate, which deals with the imposition of sanctions against China, the Senator said in a press release on May 12.
According to the bill, the President of the United States would retain the authority to impose sanctions against China if, the PRC refuses within two months to give a full account on how the coronavirus outbreak started and began to spread.
Graham said that the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in the United States was the result of “deception” by China’s ruling Communist Party, which did not provide timely information on the threat of the coronavirus. In addition, the Senator accused the Chinese leadership of not allowing the international community to investigate the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, and that it did not wish to give access to the microbiological laboratory in Wuhan.
Graham’s bill allows the U.S. authorities to freeze Chinese assets, impose a ban on issuing loans to Chinese businesses by U.S. institutions, and impose a ban for Chinese firms from listing on U.S. exchanges. It is known that the document received approval from eight other Republican senators.
On April 19, U.S. President Donald Trump accused China of withholding information on the coronavirus from the beginning of the epidemic. On May 1, Trump said that the virus was created in a Chinese laboratory. Chinese officials have denied the U.S. President’s accusations.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
