Sen. Tom Cotton said China should face a “reckoning” from the United States and global powers after the coronavirus pandemic is handled.
The Arkansas Republican sounded alarms against the virus in January, calling for a travel ban from China into the United States. Chinese officials began locking down the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began, on Jan. 23, weeks after the first case was identified and millions of people had left the city.
Now, the disease has spread to dozens of countries and infected at least 1 million people and killed at least 52,000 others. Those numbers are likely far higher due to errors in reporting and misinformation from countries such as China, Russia, and Iran.
“As we get through this pandemic, there has to be an accounting and a reckoning for China,” Cotton told the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday. “Because China, through its dishonesty and corruption, turned what could have been a manageable local outbreak into a global pandemic that will ultimately cost not only our people but the world trillions and trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives.”
Cotton has introduced legislation to encourage pharmaceutical companies to move their supply chains out of China. He has also partnered with fellow GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri for a bill authorizing the president to sanction foreign officials and others who provide false or misleading information about health crises.
“We should reassess that relationship in every sector of imports. It’s one thing to import cheap toys or lawn furniture from China,” he said. “But, if you get much higher in the value chain, it’s time to reassess it.”
