Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, on Tuesday unveiled legislation that would impose sanctions on China for failing to cooperate with ongoing inquiries into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak.
China has come under fire by Republicans in Washington, including President Trump, who say Beijing waited to report critical details about the start of the novel coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan, China last November.
“I’m convinced that without Chinese Communist Party deception the virus would not be here in the United States,” Mr. Graham, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.
He called the measure a “hard hitting piece of legislation,” and said lawmakers “must determine how the virus came about and take steps, like closing the wet markets, to ensure it never happens again.”
The WHO has pushed back on U.S. frustration and last month called on critics to “please quarantine politicizing COVID.”
More than 4.2 million people around the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, according to the Johns Hopkins University case tracker. 289,349 people have died from the virus and over 1.4 million have recovered.
The bill demands that China close all operating wet markets that pose a risk to expose humans to health risks, provide “a full and complete accounting” of any COVID-19 investigations, and release all pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong, within 60 days of the measure’s passage.
Under the bill, Mr. Trump would have the authorization to impose an array of sanctions on China, including travel bans, asset freezes and financial penalties, if Beijing does not provide proof of the executed conditions.
Mr. Graham’s bill, dubbed the COVID-19 Accountability Act, is co-sponsored by eight Republican senators including Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Mike Braun of Indiana, Rick Scott of Florida, Steve Daines of Montana, Todd Young of Indiana, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.
“The Chinese Communist Party must be held accountable for the detrimental role they played in this pandemic,” Mr. Inhofe said in a statement. “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.”
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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