As China ramps up its coronavirus propaganda campaign, President Donald Trump is determined to keep the communist regime from shifting the blame for its deadly outbreak onto America.

In a blatant attempt to deflect responsibility for its mishandling of the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, the Chinese state media is reportedly suggesting, without evidence, that rapid progress on developing a coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. is proof that Washington had the virus long before the start of the outbreak.

The media report echoed a recent tweet by Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who absurdly claimed that the U.S. Army was responsible for bringing the virus to Wuhan. “When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected?” Zhao wrote. “What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”

Days earlier, another high-ranking Chinese official argued that “Although the epidemic first broke out in China, it did not necessarily mean that the virus is originated from China, let alone ‘made in China.'”

President Trump is not going to let them get away with such transparent propaganda – something he made clear while explaining why he continues to use the term “Chinese coronavirus.”

“I didn’t appreciate the fact that China was saying that our military gave it to them,” the President told reporters, adding that he wants to make sure the world remembers where the virus really originated – as well as which country tried to cover it up, forcing us to take far more drastic measures than would have been necessary if China had been forthcoming.

As the number of confirmed cases in New Hampshire steadily climbs, prompting controversial restrictions on public gatherings, the coronavirus threat has become an economic threat as well as a public health crisis. The Trump administration is working closely with Congress to implement extraordinary stimulus measures to soften the financial blow to working families – including substantial checks for every American – but China’s refusal to take responsibility for the suffering it unleashed upon the world literally adds insult to injury.

Beijing’s efforts to blame America for the Wuhan coronavirus actually represent the second phase of the Chinese government’s propaganda campaign, which began with internal suppression and only shifted to external finger-pointing after news of the virus proved as impossible to contain as the virus itself.

In direct contrast to China’s secretiveness, President Trump and his team of world-class experts hold daily press briefings to update the country on the rapidly-evolving health crisis. At each of these lengthy briefings, members of the coronavirus task force – including both high-ranking government officials and renowned medical experts – take time to answer tough questions from the media in order to ensure that the American people have all the information they need to stay healthy.

Even some of the administration’s most vocal critics – including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo – have praised the president’s response to the pandemic, lauding him for his leadership and emphasis on cooperation.

“I want to thank the vice president – and especially the president – who facilitated this and moved quickly,” Cuomo said in a recent statement. Similarly, Newsom thanked Donald Trump for helping to isolate and treat sick passengers who were stranded on a cruise ship off the coast of California, noting that the White House followed through on every promise.

This level of coordination, collaboration, and transparency was noticeably absent in China, where the highly-centralized authoritarian government initially focused on curbing the spread of information instead of stopping the actual disease.

When the virus was first detected in humans last December, Chinese authorities spent an entire month silencing doctors and researchers in an effort to cover up the outbreak.

Regrettably for the entire world, new research indicates that a whopping 95 percent of COVID-19 cases could have been prevented if China had done the responsible thing and acted to isolate the virus as soon as it appeared. Here in New Hampshire, we’re starting to see the dreaded “community spread” as the virus extends its reach beyond those who have recently returned from outbreak zones – a problem we might have been able to avoid if China had been more transparent.

The U.S. government has handled the Chinese coronavirus crisis with transparency and multilateral collaboration from the very beginning. President Trump is absolutely right to insist that China stop trying to blame others for its own unconscionable failings.

Lou Gargiulo served two terms as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.