China accuses US of ‘weaponizing’ prolonged Shanghai lockdown

China accuses US of 'weaponizing' extended Shanghai lockdown

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On Monday, the US State Department “ordered” the departure of non-emergency employees and their families from the city of 25 million “due to a surge in Covid-19 cases and the impact of restrictions related to (China’s) response,” according to a statement on its website.

The notice came just days after the State Department authorized the “voluntary departure” of staff from Shanghai. A travel advisory also urges Americans to “reconsider travel” to all of China, citing stringent Covid restrictions including “the risk of parents and children being separated.”

China’s Foreign Ministry has notified the US it “firmly opposes” the consulate order, ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in a news briefing on Tuesday.

“We express strong dissatisfaction with the politicization and weaponization of evacuations by the US,” Zhao said, adding that the US was “smearing China.”

Zhao also defended China’s Covid prevention and control policies as “scientific and effective,” insisting the government had…

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