In Coronavirus War Of Words With The U.S., China Pulls No Punches

In early February, China's ruling Communist Party was facing one of its biggest political crises in more than three decades. A rapidly spreading outbreak of the new coronavirus was a "massive risk and challenge" to social stability, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned top party officials in an internal speech that was later published publicly.

But with new domestic infections near zero, China has claimed victory over a virus much of the world is still struggling to curtail. Newly confident and sensitive to criticisms that it initially covered up the outbreak, China's leadership is now seeking to recast the pandemic as a political win by arguing that its centralized, top-down governance system made it uniquely well-suited for containing andChinese lives.