GOP Sen. Rick Scott accused China of trying to sabotage development of a coronavirus vaccine.
“We have got to get this vaccine done. Unfortunately we have evidence that communist China is trying to sabotage us or slow it down,” Scott of Florida said Sunday on the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show.”
Scott, who was previously the governor of Florida, didn’t offer evidence of the claim, but noted that he can’t share all intelligence he sees.
“It came to our intelligence community. I’m on [the Senate Armed Services Committee], so clearly there’s things I can’t discuss that I get provided information [on]. But there’s evidence that they’ve been trying to either sabotage or slow it down,” Scott said.
He said Beijing “won’t cheer” if the US or the United Kingdom are first to develop a vaccine.
The ruling Communist Party has “decided to be an adversary to Americans and I think to democracy around the world,” he said.
Scott said the vaccine is important to getting the US economy back and that if China develops it first, “they are not going to share.”
President Trump has been highly critical of China’s role in the pandemic, accusing the country of not releasing accurate information in a timely manner so other countries could take precautions against the coronavirus.
The virus was first recorded in Wuhan, China, in late December.