Washington (CNN)The
Chinese government intentionally concealed the severity of the
coronavirus from the international community while it stockpiled imports
and decreased exports, a Department of Homeland Security report found,
according to an administration official familiar with the report.
"China
likely cut its exports of medical supplies prior to its January WHO
(World Health Organization) notification that COVID-19 is a contagion,"
the report reads, according to the source.
The
report, which assessed export and import data earlier this year, was
circulated within the federal government on Friday, the source said. ABC first reported its existence.
Earlier Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stepped
up administration claims that China mounted efforts to hide the extent
of the coronavirus spread, including concealing the severity while
stockpiling medical supplies.
"You've got the facts just about right," Pompeo told ABC's "This Week" when
asked if China intentionally stockpiled medical supplies in early
January while it concealed the severity of Covid-19. "We can confirm
that the Chinese Communist Party did all that it could to make sure that
the world didn't learn in a timely fashion about what was taking
place."
Pompeo's comments come as the Trump administration is formulating a long-term plan to
punish China on multiple fronts for the coronavirus pandemic, injecting
a rancorous new element into a critical relationship already on a steep
downward slide.
Multiple
sources inside the administration say that there is an appetite to use
various tools, including sanctions, canceling US debt obligations and
drawing up new trade policies, to make clear to China, and to everyone
else, where they feel the responsibility lies.
While
there are serious questions about China's transparency, the Trump
administration has escalated its effort to blame China for the global
spread of the virus as criticism of its own handling of the pandemic has
increased. President Donald Trump repeatedly downplayed the threat from
the novel coronavirus and suggested it would not be a problem for the
US at a time when it was clearly already spreading around the world.
Trump also repeatedly showered Chinese President Xi Jinping with praise
for his management of the crisis as he sought to safeguard a trade deal
with the Chinese.
The
DHS assessment also says, "in its communications, China intentionally
concealed its trade activity by publicly denying it has ever imposed an
export ban on masks and other medical supplies," according to the
source.
The
findings were assessed at "moderate confidence," the source told CNN,
pointing out that the report does not conclude whether the actions of
the Chinese government were nefarious. It is reasonable to conclude that
based on the outbreak, before it was declared pandemic, China would
recognize key measurements in determining requirements for the need of
personal protective equipment, the source said.
The
US needs "to be mindful about, 'what do you do about it?'" the source
noted. "Is this a trigger that propels industry here? Will there be
enough in the stockpile going forward?" the source asked.
China
has access to a wide array of raw materials necessary in establishing a
production line of goods needed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic,
said the source, whether it's surgical gowns, masks or goggles.
"They have a robust manufacturing capability and workforce that can quickly ramp up manufacturing," the source said.
On
Sunday, Pompeo mentioned that some efforts that the Chinese Communist
Party took were not seen, but others were public such as not allowing US
medical professionals into labs in Wuhan, the city where the virus
originated, and silencing scientists.
"President
Trump is very clear, we're gonna hold those responsible accountable and
we'll do so on a timeline that is our own," Pompeo said.
Trump
administration officials have been pushing the US intelligence
community to determine the exact origins of the coronavirus outbreak in
pursuit of an unproven theory that the pandemic started because of a
laboratory accident in China, multiple sources told CNN. The President
on Thursday contradicted the intelligence community and claimed he has
seen evidence that gives him a "high degree of confidence" Covid-19
originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, but declined to provide
details to back up his assertion.
Asked
about the belief expressed by Trump and if he had seen evidence backing
that claim, Pompeo said, "There's enormous evidence that that's where
this began."
"We've
said from the beginning that this was a virus that originated in Wuhan,
China. We took a lot of grief for that from the outside, but I think
the whole world can see now," he said. He later added, "there is a
significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in
Wuhan."
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement Thursday that
the "Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific
consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically
modified."
Asked
Sunday about that conclusion, Pompeo said he agreed with it. Pompeo
said that he has "no reason to disbelieve" the intelligence community,
adding, "I've seen their analysis. I've seen the summary that you saw
that was released publicly. I have no reason to doubt that that is
accurate."
Though
Pompeo also echoed Trump's statement last week that he has seen
evidence linking the outbreak to the Wuhan lab, which contradicted the
statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. That
statement said US intelligence was "rigorously" examining whether the
outbreak was "through contact with infected animals or if it was the
result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan."
Pompeo
added that China "behaved like authoritarian regimes do, attempted to
conceal and hide and confused and employed the World Health Organization
as a tool to do the same."
"These
are the kinds of things that have presented this enormous crisis and
enormous loss of life and tremendous economic loss all across the
globe," he said. "The Australians agree with that, you hear the
Europeans beginning to say the same thing, and I think the whole world
is united understanding that China brought this virus to the world."
CNN
reported last month that the US government was looking into the theory
that the virus originated in the lab but hadn't yet been able to
corroborate it. In April, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, said the weight of evidence suggests the virus was of
natural origin.
Asked about whether China intentionally released the virus or if it was an accident, Pompeo refused to give an opinion.
"I
don't have anything to say about that. I think there's a lot to know,
but I can say this. We've done our best to try and answer all of those
questions. We tried to get a team in there, the WHO (World Health
Organization) tried to get a team in there, and they have failed. No
one's been allowed to go into this lab or any of the other
laboratories...this is an ongoing challenge. We still need to get in
there. We still don't have the virus samples we need."
The
US-China clash is brewing amid growing suspicion inside the
administration over China's rising strategic challenge and fury that the
virus destroyed an economy seen as Trump's passport to a second term.
There
are serious questions to be addressed about China's transparency in the
early days of the outbreak in Wuhan and whether its autocratic system
fostered an attempt to cover it up. The United States is not the only
nation that wants answers amid a pandemic that has devastated the global
economy and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
In
response to building pressure, China has launched a propaganda effort
to distract from its own culpability, including blaming US soldiers for
importing the pathogen in remarks that infuriated Trump. On Tuesday,
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang accused "American politicians" of
telling barefaced lies about the pandemic.
"They
have only one objective: to try to shirk responsibility for their own
epidemic and prevention and control measures and divert public
attention," he said.
On Wednesday, China's state-run news agency Xinhua posted an animated video mocking the US response to the coronavirus pandemic as it described China's response in a flattering way.
CNN's Jennifer Hansler, Rebecca Grandahl and Chandelis Duster contributed to this report.
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