Chinese President Xi Jinping with PM Narendra Modi | Photo Credit: IANS

New Delhi/Beijing: Already fuming at US President Donald Trump for using ‘China virus’ to describe SARS-CoV-2 pathogen that causes the novel coronavirus disease, Beijing has sought India’s affirmation over not using the phrase while describing the illness.

It might stigmatise China and will be detrimental to international cooperation, argued state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi during a telephone conversation with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar.

The initial cases of the deadly illness first emerged in China’s Hubei province in the city of Wuhan after which it spread to 172 countries and territories across the globe.

During the telephonic conversation with Jaishankar, Wang said that he hoped India was “opposed” to using “China phrase” to describe the infection, dubbing it “narrow-minded” approach, as per a report by Hindustan Times.

The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2020

Blame game to shift the narrative over origin of Covid-19

Beijing reacted very strongly to the US President describing the infection as “China virus” as the blame game between the two sides continued for some time to shift the narrative about the origin of the virus.

“The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the 'Chinese Virus'. We will be stronger than ever before!” Trump tweeted on March 17 evoking a sharp response from China.

Despite Beijing’s strong reservations to the terminology, Trump continued to defend what he said in days to come. Speaking to reporters later, the US President claimed that the world is “paying a bigger price” because China “hid the information”.

“It would have been much better if we had known about this a number of months earlier. It could have been contained to that one area in China where it started. The world is paying a big price for what they (China) did and the world is paying a very big price for not letting them (information about coronavirus) come out,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Chinese diplomats worldwide have launched a campaign to convince nations not to use the word while speaking about the coronavirus pandemic.

China’s envoy to India, Sun Weidong earlier tweeted that some people were stigmatizing China by using such terms. "Some people have kept stigmatizing China & using 'Chinese virus' in reference to COVID-19. Such language contravenes WHO guidelines against the use of geographical terms in naming diseases. Chinese people are strongly opposed to it," Weidong tweeted.