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HomeWorldGerman daily sends $165 bn bill to China as Covid-19 damages, Beijing...

German daily sends $165 bn bill to China as Covid-19 damages, Beijing calls it ‘xenophobia’

German newspaper Bild's editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt has told Chinese President Xi Jinping that he was endangering the world.

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New Delhi: One of Germany’s largest newspapers, Bild, has made out an unusual invoice. The daily has billed China for the money it “owed” Berlin in ‘coronavirus damages’.

In an article titled ‘What China owes us’, that was published Wednesday, the newspaper slapped China with a bill of 150 billion euros, which is $165 billion, for damages inflicted on Germany due to the Covid-19 outbreak that began in Wuhan.

It listed a 27 billion euro charge for losses in German tourism, around 7.2 billion euros for losses to the country’s film industry, 50 billion euros for small businesses and a million euros per hour in costs lost to Lufthansa — a German airline.

Responding to the article, the Chinese Embassy in Berlin said it “stirs up nationalism, prejudice, xenophobia, and hostility to China”.

In a reply to the Chinese embassy’s claims, Bild’s editor-in- chief Julian Reichelt addressed President Xi Jinping in a three-minute-long video and said the latter was endangering the world.

“You, your government and your scientists had to know long ago that coronavirus is highly infectious, but you left the world in the dark about it. Your top experts didn’t respond when Western researchers asked to know what was going on in Wuhan. You were too proud and too nationalistic to tell the truth, which you felt was a national disgrace,” said Reichelt.

He also spoke about China’s “surveillance systems” and its “denial of freedom”.


Also read: China wants India to revise new ‘discriminatory’ FDI policy, says it violates WTO norms


China should pay for ‘damage done’

The German newspaper isn’t the only one to have blamed China for the pandemic that has now infected more than 2.4 million people across and claimed over one lakh lives globally.

The US has been at the forefront of countries holding China responsible for the pandemic.

In an interview on 13 April, Reichelt had asked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo if China should be held accountable for the global pandemic. To this, Pompeo said it was important to understand how and where the virus began, to ensure that something like this never happens again.

When asked if China should pay for the “damage done”, Pompeo replied saying there will be time for recriminations but the current focus was on reducing the risk of the virus.

“For the moment, I think it’s absolutely essential that we focus on the task ahead of us, getting systems in place such that we can reopen the American economy, and ultimately the global economy as well. There’ll be a time for recriminations,” said Pompeo.

At a press conference last week, US President Donald Trump had also said that America was looking into reports on how the novel coronavirus “escaped” from a lab in Wuhan.

“We’re looking at it, a lot of people are looking at it. It seems to make sense. A lot of strange things are happening, but there is a lot of investigation going on and we are going to find out,” Trump said. “All I can say is wherever it came from, came from China in whatever form, 184 countries now are suffering because of it.”


Also read: Global unrest due to Covid-19 lockdown indicates steep rise in poverty and inequality


 

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10 COMMENTS

  1. ROGUE NATION. RESPONSIBLE FOR NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION, HELPING CANCEROUS STATES LIKE PAKISTAN AND NORTH KOREA, FULL OF HATRED FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD AND EXPANSIONIST TENDENCIES THESE BAT EATING INGRATE COMMUNISTS SHOULD BE BOYCOTTED BY THE ENTIRE WORLD TO BRING THEM TO THEIR KNEES. STEALERS OF ALL THE TECHNOLOGIES FROM EUPOE AND AMERICA AND THEN MAKING A FORTUNE FOR THEIR ECONOMY THIS RABID NATION SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOR ALL THE SINCE IT HAS COMMITTED SINCE ITS BIRTH. IT IS A BLOT ON THIS BEAUTIFUL MOTHER EARTH.

  2. US president Donlad Trump stirred the world by blaming China for the pandemic of Coronavirus. After him some European countries also started blaming China. No country has shown so far any substantial proof to the media against China. Developing countries are still importing necessary medical equipment from China to tackle the virus. Game blame between US and China and European countries is nothing but distraction from the real challenge. Not a single country in the world is capable to handle the virus. The reason is obvious, all powerful leaders of the world enjoy their life to the fullest with tax payer money. After this, leaders can not be trusted and the people of the world have to reconstruct their life. This is the only lesson the whole of the humanity can learn from this pandemic.

  3. Isn’t it good –
    To stir up nationalism against a communist country,
    Xenophobia agaist the country whose financial policies are of underhande hostile takeover and
    Hostility agaist the country which is hostile to the whole world apart from Pakistan and North Korea.

    • To those who don’t know: BILD is a yellow press product and compares to the SUN. Unfortunately even in a rich country like Germany a huge proportion of people are uneducated. This is what makes BILD the largest German paper
      Those who are interested in serious German journalism may read national papers like FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, DIE WELT, SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, TAZ and others, which cover the entire range of view points from conservative to socialist.

  4. Everyone is blaming someone else.
    That’s the paradox of modern age.
    That “someone else” is in turn blaming the former and the circle goes on and on.
    Everyone has a self righteous mindset.
    The worship of the self.
    Everyone’s in a denial mode.
    Our religion is right, our view is correct, Our life is sacred, Our God is superior.
    Your religion is false, You are inferior, You are responsible and it’s your fault.

    If Covid 19 is Chinas fault then who is responsible for Polio, AIDS ,Influenza ,Cholera, Plague ,Typhoid ,Yellow fever, Nile fever, Ebola Virus, Tuberculosis Spanish Flu etc….

    Stop whining people! It’s just a disease that’s all, and whether you like it or not…Humans are a fragile species and the relative peace , comfort and material progress and the long life span of the 20th century has made everyone pampered into believing in the false Immortality narrative of Mankind.
    Throughout our longer existence we had an average lifespan of 30 years. Human history is 90% famine wars and plagues.
    It’s better to buckle up and pull up our pants. Covid 19 and its death toll is a luxury compared to other pandemics and natural disasters in our 100 thousand year existence in this planet.

  5. I am surprised that Germany would believe a pack of lies by American government that China is responsible for this pandemic. Many countries have suffered financial loss because of this. You have to pay through through your noses to compensate Jews for Hitler action against them. Even that was a pack of lies but you were forced to pay and it bankrupted your economy. Despite this you are back on your feet and leading industrial countries in the world. If any ones responsible its America and new world order.

  6. How long other countries remain bogged down to Chinese cult and influence over the world remains to be seen. Other countries must also do this because the entire world is suffering due to the Chinese role in the spread of Corna virus. The so-called bat soup or wet markets of Wuhan are in existence since decades why this Corona has emerged form Whuan now another valid reason for suspicion is hiding of facts and revision of death figures on later dates.

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