BEIJING — A Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Friday refuted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's questioning of China's transparency in handling the COVID-19 epidemic, saying his remarks showed no respect towards Chinese people's great efforts and sacrifice.

Pompeo's unsubstantiated remarks were entirely for the purpose of shifting the blame on others, spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a press briefing, adding that the remarks have run counter to the consensus of the international community.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said China has always acted in an open, transparent and responsible manner in the face of COVID-19

Pompeo said in an interview Thursday that the Chinese government was aware of the first cases of COVID-19 "maybe as early as November."

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"Mr. Pompeo should not think he can arbitrarily frame others with a 'maybe'," Geng said.

Geng said China has always acted in an open, transparent and responsible manner in the face of COVID-19, and has reported the outbreak to the World Health Organization, shared the genome sequence of the virus with other countries and carried out international cooperation on epidemic prevention and control all "at the earliest possible time," which were "undisputed facts."

While giving a brief review of some crucial junctures in China's fight against the epidemic, Geng said the groundless suspicion of China's transparency was disrespectful to the tremendous efforts and sacrifice of the Chinese people.

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He urged some US individuals to respect science, facts and international consensus and stop smearing other countries, adding that the priority for the United States is to focus on its domestic prevention and control and strengthen international anti-pandemic cooperation, rather than confuse public opinions and shift the blames.

China also hopes the United States will not choose to be "on the wrong side of the track from the international community," Geng said. 

The US has been smearing and attacking WHO without any factual basis. Its tactics of pressure and coercion will only draw greater disapprobation from the international community, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuan said

"The US assumes that WHO should do its bidding because it is the largest contributor. This is typical hegemonic mentality," Geng said. "At present, by supporting WHO, we will be able to contain the further spread of the virus. It is literally a matter of life and death. This is a consensus shared by the majority of countries and a sure choice anyone with conscience would make."

Geng made the remarks when asked to comment on media reports that Pompeo has said Washington may never restore funding to WHO.

The US has been smearing and attacking WHO without any factual basis. Its tactics of pressure and coercion will only draw greater disapprobation from the international community, Geng said.

Led by Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO has been actively fulfilling its duties and playing an important role in coordinating international efforts to fight COVID-19 in an objective, fair and science-based manner, he said, noting that supporting WHO helps uphold multilateralism and safeguard the role and authority of the UN.

"In fact, support for WHO has recently poured in from the leadership of many countries and international organizations including France, Germany, the UK, Canada, Japan, and the UN. Headed by Director-General Tedros, WHO's leadership is also endorsed in the UNGA resolution and statements by the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 and China. In the statement of the recent G20 extraordinary summit, member states stressed that they fully support and commit to further strengthen the WHO's mandate in coordinating the international fight against the pandemic."

Geng said that as for the US suspending funding to WHO, "We have offered China's response repeatedly. Here I would like to stress that WHO members have a legally-binding obligation to pay their assessed contributions, thus the US suspending funding is a fundamental violation of its membership duties, which will definitely deliver a hard blow to the international anti-virus cooperation and probably entail serious ramifications.

"It will affect all countries, including the US, and particularly those with vulnerable health systems," he said.