Liberals and progressives on Twitter accused Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of racism after he called out the Chinese Communist Party for mishandling previous disease outbreaks. This comes after Pompeo said there is increasing evidence the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is the result of the virus originating from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
"China has a history of infecting the world and they have a history of running substandard laboratories. These are not the first times that we’ve had a world exposed to viruses as a result of failures in a Chinese lab," Pompeo tweeted on Sunday.
China has a history of infecting the world and they have a history of running substandard laboratories. These are not the first times that we’ve had a world exposed to viruses as a result of failures in a Chinese lab.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 3, 2020
In response, people said Pompeo was putting all Asians in danger by using bigoted language.
This could have been a Chernobyl moment in China but instead we are alienating the people we need and stoking nationalist feelings rather than aiming directly at the leadership.
— John Sipher (@john_sipher) May 4, 2020
why not just go all in and say "yellow peril"? https://t.co/UYBMwfrLdY
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 3, 2020
Our complete piece of shit Secretary of State, @SecPompeo. What an embarrassment. https://t.co/UIXQ8oWrer
— Willie Garson (@WillieGarson) May 3, 2020
A reminder that @SecPompeo has a history of infecting the world with anti-Asian racism. These are not the first times he's peddled anti-Asian hate https://t.co/31sBNMmbVB
— Anil Kalhan (@kalhan) May 4, 2020
I'd also note that in addition to Pompeo not having any credibility, this tweet is so racist. https://t.co/SICHTGOa21
— Govind Acharya (@gringostani) May 3, 2020
This is really dangerous language - both in inciting bigotry against Asians and raising the risk of conflict with China. https://t.co/7ZUN2HlydX
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) May 3, 2020
As Townhall previously reported, the State Department confirmed to the House Oversight and Reform Committee in April that the state media in China, Russia, and Iran are working together to try and blame the United States for the pandemic that started in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
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