Pakistan President meets Xi Jinping in China, shakes hands amid global coronavirus scare

Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Tuesday met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing. He is on a two-day visit to convey Islamabad's strong support and solidarity to Beijing in its battle against the coronavirus pandemic that has killed over 3,200 people in China.

The coronavirus broke out in China's Wuhan in December, 2019. Beijing has since been accused of not responding timely to the outbreak, which led to the global scare.

So far, more than 170,000 cases have been recorded worldwide, with more than 80,000 in China. The World Health Organisation has declared the outbreak a pandemic, and severe measures are being taken across the world to curb the spread of the virus.

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The United States and China have been sparring over where coronavirus originated, and how it spread.

Alvi's visit comes in the wake of this blame game, and of the virus spreading rapidly in different parts of the world including Pakistan, which has reported over 135 confirmed cases -- even as the virus slowed down in China.

Arif Alvi shook hands with Jinping, overlooking one of the listed measures -- social distancing or avoiding physical contact with people who come from regions with a higher toll.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed grave concerns over the global scare, and said their economy would be devastated if his country is swamped with the coronavirus -- seemingly contradictory with the country's premier's visit to the erstwhile epicentre of the pandemic.

Pakistan had earlier even declined to evacuate its over 1,000 nationals, mostly students, from worst-hit Wuhan and Hubei province, saying that the Chinese government has assured to take care of them.

THE BLAME GAME

The United States has been terming coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus".

China, in turn, shared a conspiracy theory, alleging the US Army had brought the novel virus to the region. The unfounded accusation led US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to ask China stop spreading misinformation, and trying to shift blame for the outbreak.

US President Donald Trump on Monday sent a tweet describing the coronavirus as the "Chinese virus". In response, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned the US should "take care of its own business" before stigmatising Beijing.