China says US pushing relationship to ‘brink of new Cold War’

Tensions between the US and China reached a new peak over the weekend as the fallout continues from the coronavirus pandemic and the coinciding economic crisis, with a top official from the Communist government accusing the US of pushing the two nations “to the brink of a new Cold War.”

“It has come to our attention that some political forces in the US are taking China-US relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a ‘new Cold War,'” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters during a news briefing Sunday.

“This dangerous attempt to turn back the wheel of history will undo the fruits of decades-long China-US cooperation, dampen America’s own development prospects, and put world stability and prosperity in jeopardy. People with wisdom and foresight on both sides must step forward to stop it,” Wang continued.

The foreign minister’s comments are yet another example of how relations between the two countries have soured.

President Trump signed phase one of the deal with China in January, ending a bitter trade war between the two countries that took place amid months of tense negotiations.

In the months that followed, the Communist nation began to face a wave of international scrutiny for its lack of transparency at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak.

President Trump and top administration officials — most notably Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — have squarely blamed China for the global health emergency. Beijing, meanwhile, has been engaged in a months-long smear campaign against the three men.

Earlier this month, Trump told The Post in an Oval Office interview that Chinese authorities were responsible for the virus’ spread.

“I think the worst part of it was they could have extinguished the fire. And they could have stopped people from traveling and extinguished the fire. And they did stop people from traveling to China, but not to other parts of the world. So it’s a very sad event, I will tell you,” he remarked.

After Pompeo began publicly repeating the theory that the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, Chinese state media went on the attack.

The People’s Daily, the official newspaper group of the Chinese Communist Party, devoted whole editorials to attacking Pompeo for his vocal criticism of Beijing.

CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, attacked Pompeo’s assertions as “insane and evasive,” and even went after the secretary of state in extremely personal terms.

Newscasters referred to him as the “common enemy of mankind” and accused him of “spreading a political virus” on multiple occasions.

Images of Pompeo with the word “liar” stamped across his face were also broadcast on TV screens in Beijing’s subways.

On Sunday, Wang reiterated some of that same propaganda, calling it “most regrettable” that a “political virus” is being spread in the US as an “opportunity to attack and slander China.”

“Some politicians ignore the basic facts and make up countless lies and conspiracy theories concerning China,” the Chinese foreign minister added.

Vice President Pence, who is chairman of the White House coronavirus task force, denounced China over the weekend for their handling of the virus, saying the country “let the world down, and the World Health Organization was their willing partner.”

Speaking during an appearance on Breitbart News’ SiriusXM program Saturday, Pence argued that the Chinese Communist government withheld vital information about the virus “that would have made it possible for us to stand up a national response sooner.”

Pence went on to say that China “didn’t even let American CDC personnel in on the ground until mid-February to see what was going on.”

The United States put more than 30 Chinese firms and government enterprises with alleged links to China’s military activities and human-rights abuses on a blacklist late last week and threatened to sanction China over its new “national security law” imposed on Hong Kong.

Wang addressed American efforts to check Communist China’s actions, saying the US should not expect any changes.

“China has no intention to change, still less replace, the US. It’s time for the US to give up its wishful thinking of changing China or stopping 1.4 billion people’s historic march toward modernization,” he said.