Have the Chinese turned down a United States offer of help in fighting the coronavirus? China is the epicentre of the Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic, which has caused havoc around the globe. As many as 361 deaths and more than 17,000 cases have been reported in the country, which is the hardest-hit nation, until now.
Meanwhile, the United States, which has evacuated its citizens out of Wuhan and imposed a temporary ban on those with a recent travel history in China, has reported 11 cases. Both President Donald Trump and National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien have said that the US has offered assistance to China, to deal with the current crisis, but they haven't heard back from the Chinese.
US offers assistance to China in dealing with coronavirus epidemic
In two separate interviews, US President Donald Trump and the National Security Adviser Robert O' Brien, talked about the coronavirus epidemic. They also talked about assistance that the United States offered, but added that didn't hear back from the Chinese.
In an interview with Fox News, President Donald Trump talked about the steps taken by the United States to curb the spread of virus. Referring to the temporary travel ban imposed on Chinese nationals and foreigners who travelled to China in last 14 days, Trump said, "Well, we've pretty much shut it down, coming in from China".
Talking about the assistance offered to help China cope with the crisis, the President said: "We have a tremendous relationship with China. We're offering 'em tremendous help". "But we can't have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem, the coronavirus. So, we're gonna see what happens", Trump added.
Talking at length, National Security Adviser Robert O' Brien, said in an interview with CBS, "we continue to offer assistance to the Chinese. We've offered to send over CDC and other U.S. medical and public health professionals". "And we have not heard back yet from the Chinese on those offers", he said.
'We've got tremendous expertise. We've got the greatest medical system in the world". "We want to help our Chinese colleagues if we can", he said. We've made the offer, and we'll- we'll see if they accept the offer", O' Brien added.
China asks the European Union (EU) for assistance
On Saturday (Feb. 1), Chinese premier Li Keqiang approached the President of the European Commission, seeking help in an urgent procurement of medical supplies.
