Bill in US Congress to seek sanctions on China

Washington, May 13

Nine influential US senators have introduced a legislation in Congress seeking to authorise President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on China if it fails to cooperate in providing a full accounting of the events leading up to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The US is the worst-hit country with more than 80,000 deaths and 1.4 million cases. The Covid-19 Accountability Act, authored by Senator Lindsay Graham and co-sponsored by eight others, was introduced in the Senate — the upper chamber of Congress, on Tuesday.

It mandates the President to make a certification to Congress within 60 days that China has provided a full and complete accounting to any Covid-19 probe led by the US, its allies or the UN affiliates such as the World Health Organisation and has closed all operating wet markets that have the potential to expose humans to health risks through the introduction of zoonotic disease into the human population.

Without the certification, the President would be authorised to impose a range of sanctions such as asset freezes, travel bans, visa revocations, restricting US financial institutions from making loans or underwriting to Chinese businesses and prohibiting Chinese firms from being listed on American stock exchanges.

“I’m convinced that without the Chinese Communist Party deception, the virus would not be here in the US,” said Graham.

“China refuses to allow the international community to go into the Wuhan lab to investigate. They refuse to allow investigators to study how this outbreak started. I’m convinced China will never cooperate with a serious investigation unless they are made to do so. This hard-hitting piece of legislation will sanction China until they cooperate with the investigators,” he said.

“The COVID-19 Accountability Act will force China to provide a full account of the events leading up to this devastating outbreak. America is strong and we will come out of this crisis, but China must be forced to face the facts and take accountability for their actions,” he said. — PTI

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