The State Department circulated a memo internally making the case that the US response to the Ebola crisis in Africa has been better than China’s, according to a copy of the document shared with Semafor.
The June 5 memo states that the US “has become the single largest financial contributor to the Ebola response effort,” while China “only recently pledged assistance after previously issuing precautionary measures and general statements of intent.”
It also asserts that the Chinese narrative “wrongly points out that they are on the ground when the United States is not.”
The US response to the crisis has been criticized, particularly in the context of USAID cuts under Trump. The New York Times recently ran a story suggesting China could fill a void left by the US, while the South China Morning Post quoted experts saying Beijing already had done so.
The internal State Department memo also notes the US government’s move to fund as many as 50 Ebola treatment centers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, where the outbreak is concentrated. It also measures State’s overall direct funding for the response efforts at more than $200 million.
“The Chinese government has issued multiple precautionary warnings directed at its own citizens and general statements of intent in response to the Ebola outbreak,” the memo reads. “Despite China’s statements, no clear dollar-sum commitment has been publicly made to assist regions impacted by the Ebola outbreak. Now, weeks after Ebola cases were confirmed, China has announced that it would send medical experts to the DRC.”
Reached for comment on the internal memo, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott declined to comment on ’purportedly leaked documents” but said the administration’s “top priority is the health and security of the American people.”