China bears responsibility for much of the problems at the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic, and it will not be able to avoid that, but at this point, the United States must focus on issues where cooperation is needed rather than retribution, former Secretary of State and U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright said Tuesday.
"I think that China really does bear responsibility for a lot of the problems at the beginning, not having revealed any information, lack of transparency, and that is something we have to deal with," Albright told Fox News' Dana Perino. "I think that it really did harm the whole situation, and then also, kind of trying to blame us for some things."
But at this point, the United States needs to "press them" for a series of issues, including on the supply chain and how to deal with the pandemic in a global manner, Albright said.
As a diplomat, part of being in the trade is "that you have to figure out how to compete with other countries," she added.
"Tell it like it is, and at the same time try to find areas where you can cooperate, especially in the kind of a world that we live in now," Albright said.
Albright also said she disagrees with President Donald Trump's threat to pull funding from the World Health Organization after he claimed it shielded China's actions concerning the virus, because that would cause problems for the United States. Further, she said, it would be a "real mistake" to pull out of membership.
"When I was at the U.N., initially, the Bush administration had not paid up some of the peacekeeping operations, and it was very hard as we were trying to get reform to have a voice," Albright said. "If you are not at the table, you are not able to get the kind of reforms that you need."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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