US Sec. of State Mike Pompeo said China had misled the world community by "destroying live virus samples instead of sharing them or asking the [US] to secure them..."
Pompeo said the Communist Liberation Army had sunk a number of Vietnamese fishing boats, a Malaysian prospector, and announced a unilateral fishing ban in the South Asia Sea.
He also said China had threatened Australia with "severe economic retribution" for the "simple act" of asking for an independant inquiry into the origins of the virus.