China has issued a short animation titled “Once Upon a Virus” ridiculing the U.S. response to the new coronavirus employing Lego-like figures to represent the two countries.
Washington and Beijing are fastened in a war of words over the origins of the disease, which appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has grown into a global pandemic.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared on Thursday he was positive the coronavirus may have originated in a Chinese virology lab, but refused to describe the evidence.
In the animation posted online by China’s official Xinhua news agency, red curtains open to reveal a stage featuring Lego-like figures in the form of a terracotta warrior wearing a face mask and the Statue of Liberty.
“We discovered a new virus,” says the warrior.
“So what?” replies the Statue of Liberty. “It’s only a flu.”
As the warrior issues warnings about the virus and counts off the grim milestones in China’s outbreak, the Statue of Liberty replies dismissively with echoes of Trump’s press conferences in which he played down the severity of the illness.
“Are you listening to yourselves?” asks the warrior as the statue begins to turn red with fever and gets hooked up to an intravenous drip.
“We are always correct, even though we contradict ourselves,” the statue replies.
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