WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A war of words between China and the United States showed no signs of let up on Monday, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a phone call with a senior Chinese diplomat expressing "strong U.S. objections" over what Washington sees as Beijing's efforts to shift blame for the spread of the coronavirus.
Ties between the world's top two economies, already complicated due to issues including trade, intellectual property rights as well as press freedoms, have further been tested by the outbreak of coronavirus, which causes the sometimes fatal, highly contagious respiratory illness COVID-19.