US Introduces 3 Bills To Punish China For The Spread Of Coronavirus

"Today I introduced three pieces of legislation to directly address Chinese censorship and their responsibility for this pandemic," Cruz said, speaking at the Senate on Thursday "We as a body, as a bipartisan body, need to stand and stand strong protecting US national security, protecting the lives of Americans and ensuring accountability."

US passes 2 bills to punish China for coronavirus pandemic (AFP)

New Delhi: The Coronavirus pandemic has hit the US adversely. According to Worldometer 1,620,902 people in the United states have been infected and the death toll has mounted to 96,354. The US President Donald Trump has been blaming China for the spread of Coronavirus and has said that the United States is not going to take this lightly. "It came from China. We are not happy about it. We just signed a trade deal, the ink wasn't dry and all of the sudden this floated in. We are not going to take it lightly,"  Trump said participating in a Listening Session with African-American Leaders in Michigan on Thursday. US Senator Ted Cruz announced on Thursday that he has introduced three bills to counter Chinese propaganda and hold China accountable for what he described as medical and political censorship that helped fuel the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. "Today I introduced three pieces of legislation to directly address Chinese censorship and their responsibility for this pandemic," Cruz said, speaking at the Senate on Thursday "We as a body, as a bipartisan body, need to stand and stand strong protecting US national security, protecting the lives of Americans and ensuring accountability." One legislation, if adopted, will sanction Chinese officials involved in the suppression of medical experts, journalists, and political dissidents. The second one calls to cut off Hollywood studios from the federal government assistance if they censor films for screening in China. The third bill seeks to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from exploiting loopholes "to propagandize to Americans from radio stations in Mexico or Canada." The United States accuses China of mishandling and covering up the Coronavirus outbreak at its initial stages, allowing it to spread around the world. Beijing has repeatedly said that it released information in a timely manner and rejects all propaganda accusations. On Wednesday, United States President Donald Trump had said that China's incompetence is responsible for the "mass worldwide killing". Taking to Twitter, the US President said: "Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the “incompetence of China”, and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing!" (With input from agencies)