中新网北京1月13日电(蒋鲤)在美国单日新增病例数超140万例之际，美国共和党参议员马尔科·卢比奥(Marco Rubio)不仅没有推动防疫抗疫，反而又联合同僚抛出一份要求病毒溯源的“反华”法案，妄图转嫁国内矛盾。

　　卢比奥在1月10日提出所谓的“冠状病毒起源验证、调查与认定法案”，展眼望去依旧是“老调重弹”，试图用“制裁”威胁中国，如冻结相关人士在美资产、禁止他们入境美国、撤销现有签证等。

　　这当然不是他首次打着溯源的幌子嫁祸中国。靠着打造“反华”的政治人设，卢比奥等议员前脚提出新冠病毒溯源提案，后脚变本加厉通过所谓“维吾尔强迫劳动预防法案”，天天把“人权”“民主”挂在嘴边，就是为了转嫁国内危机，捞取更多政治资本。

　　中方已经两次邀请世卫组织专家来华开展溯源研究，中国—世卫组织溯源联合研究报告也得出了权威、专业和科学的结论，总有一小撮美国政客变本加厉，孤注一掷妄图用制裁手段让中国“服软”，无非是为了达到这些目的——

　　打压中国的生物科技、医疗医药产业，同时强迫国内相关企业减少对华投资，禁止美国科研机构同中国开展合作；或对中国提起诉讼，试图通过“索赔”来弥补国内抗疫不力造成的经济损失，遏制中国发展……疯狂举动的背后，是美国对中国根深蒂固的偏见，也反映出这些政客打压中国的急切用心。他们把自己的政治资源都耗费在无意义的“反华”中，但对美国普罗大众最关心的问题无所作为。

　　全美10日新增新冠确诊病例已经突破140万例，再创疫情暴发以来新高，超80万民众死于新冠肺炎。卢比奥先生所在的佛罗里达州是美国疫情重灾区之一。据约翰斯·霍普金斯大学数据，目前该州确诊病例已超过480万，死亡人数超6万，但卢比奥所为，还是政治操弄，拉着中国当“挡箭牌”。这种拙劣戏码不止一次地暴露出美国部分“反华”政客对人权的漠然——毕竟在他们眼里，80万人的死亡，哪有自己参议员的身份重要呢？(完)

U.S. politicians attempt to scapegoat China as domestic Covid cases hit new high

By John Lee

(ECNS) -- Marco Rubio of Florida and 15 other U.S. Republican senators introduced a bill on Monday, trying to hold China accountable for the origin tracing of COVID-19, as newly confirmed cases in the U.S. exceeded 1.4 million on the same day, the highest ever in the past two years.

The bill, called Coronavirus Origin Validation, Investigation, and Determination Act, aims to sanction China by freezing assets of people who the U.S. government believes have blocked the origin tracing process, prohibiting them to enter the country, and cancelling their visas, etc.

This is not the first time that Rubio has tried to blame China. He had introduced the COVID Act of 2021 in June 2021, which eventually failed to pass. Another act, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act proposed by him, was signed into law in December 2021.

While Florida, the state where Rubio serves, has registered more than 4.8 million confirmed cases and over 60,000 deaths, one of the worst-hit regions by COVID-19 in the U.S., the senator failed to propose effective measures. What he instead attempted was to use China as scapegoat to win more political capital.

Although the World Health Organization has twice conducted COVID-19 origin tracing investigations and announced the results, politicians like Rubio in the U.S. still cling to the origin tracing issue and behave even more aggravated to bend China.

What they want is no more than to achieve the following goals: cracking down on China's biotechnology, medical and pharmaceutical industries; cutting the investment of domestic related enterprises in China; and prohibiting American scientific research institutions from cooperating with China. They even want to file a lawsuit and claim compensation against China to offset economic losses caused by their ineffective pandemic control and curb China's development. These acts have revealed their prejudice against China as well as their anxiety to suppress China, which is meaningless.

The U.S. reported over 1.4 million newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, a record high in a single day, with more than 800,000 people having died due to the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University.

What politicians like Rubio have done has revealed the neglect of lives and human rights in the U.S. They seem to care more about their political career than the surging death toll.