Tensions between the United States and China were already strained well before the coronavirus outbreak and now they've hit an all-time high with both countries blaming each other for the global pandemic that has claimed close to 240,000 lives and infected more than 3.3 million people around the world.
Now, China's state-run media outlet has released a video using Lego characters to depict the respective responses to the outbreak from both China and the US.
US and China's war of words
The video, released on Thursday, by the Xinhua News Agency, came as a response to Trump pinning the blame on Beijing for the pandemic and threatening to impose new tariffs on China over its role in the outbreak that has killed tens of thousands of Americans.
China and the US have been involved in a trade dispute for over a year now, and now, according to CNN, the White House is drawing up plans to somehow "punish" the Asian giant.
"The high-volume attacks against China, including absurd and ill-disposed calls for an inquiry, lawsuits, and compensation to hold China liable for coronavirus damage, all stem from the desperate effort to divert domestic attention and shield their own incompetence and mistakes from scrutiny," Xinhua said in a report on Friday.
Video mocks US's handling of the outbreak
The two-minute clip, which you can watch below, uses a Lego model of the Statue of Liberty which represents the US and is repeatedly shown downplaying and contradicting statements made by a Lego version of China, a Chinese warrior. "It's only a flu ... Don't wear a mask," says Lady Liberty before adding that China's "stay at home" measures were a violation of human rights.
The video purports that the US did not heed warnings from the Chinese government but later accused China of "giving false data" with its depiction of the coronavirus timeline while making references to China constructing two hospitals in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, in February, an explosion of coronavirus cases in Italy in March, and Trump halting funding to the World Health Organization (WHO).
On Friday, Lego issued a statement saying it had nothing to do with the video, which ends with the Statue of Liberty declaring "We are always correct even though we contradict ourselves" to which, the Chinese Lego figure responds, "That's what I love best about Americans... your consistency." Watch the clip below:
