LINCOLN  - U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse is accusing China of a coronavirus coverup after the government expelled Wall Street Journal reporters as retribution for a critical opinion piece written earlier this month.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the reporters expelled had nothing to do with an article published in the newspaper under the title “China is the Real Sick Man in Asia.”

Sasse said the move is prove that Beijing is sick.

Sasse: “The same Chinese Communist Party that sat on the sidelines for weeks while coronavirus plagued Wuhan sprang to action when Chairman Xi’s feelings were hurt by a headline that nobody in China had the freedom to read. The Wall Street Journal owes the Chinese Communist Party nothing. Chairman Xi owes the Chinese people an apology for his coronavirus cover-up.”

China’s Foreign Ministry said the headline is racist. The opinion piece was by Walter Russell Mead of the Hudson Institute.