GOP's Tom Cotton hints at possible action against China for coronavirus pandemic

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) hinted at possible action against China over the coronavirus pandemic.

The Arkansas Republican, who pushed a fringe conspiracy theory about the virus originating in a Chinese lab, issued a statement Thursday vowing action against "those who inflicted" COVID-19 on the world.

"We will emerge stronger from this challenge," Cotton said, "we will hold accountable those who inflicted it on the world."

Cotton didn't specify what type of action should be taken in response to the pandemic.

Last month, as the virus began to spread beyond Wuhan, the GOP senator suggested the virus had originated in a high-security biochemical lab in the Chinese city.

“We don’t have evidence that this disease originated there,” Cotton said, “but because of China’s duplicity and dishonesty from the beginning, we need to at least ask the question to see what the evidence says, and China right now is not giving evidence on that question at all.”

Cotton published a column Wednesday in the National Review calling Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden the favorite candidate of China.

"When a few weeks ago President Trump acted to impose travel restrictions on China as a consequence of its abysmal handling of the Wuhan coronavirus, Biden was right there and ready to act as Beijing’s lawyer, slamming the policy as 'hysterical xenophobia,'" Cotton wrote.

"China can count on Joe Biden always to take China’s side," he added. "The competition between the United States and China, strategic and economic, will define the next century for our nation. We will need to be led by presidents for whom there’s no question as to which side they are on."

He also launched an ad Thursday in Ohio, which holds its primary elections Tuesday, accusing Biden of being "weak on China."