A number of prominent African ambassadors to China joined scholars, business leaders, and think tank analysts this week for a wide-ranging online discussion on how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting ties between the two regions.

The event, organized by the Beijing-based consultancy Development Reimagined, the Center for China and Globalization think tank and the Ghanaian embassy, opened with a keynote address by China’s former ambassador to South Africa and now the President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), a non-governmental group run by the communist party. Lin didn’t waste any time and went right into a 15-minute critique of the United States for its poor handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and what he said was Washington’s disregard of the situation in Africa (click here for transcript highlights of Lin’s remarks).