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US President Donald Trump recently got into trouble with the press and with opposition politicians when he insisted on calling the Covid-19 outbreak, the ‘Chinese Virus.’
Both Democrat politicians and many in the mainstream media said that it was racist to do so and would lead to discrimination and prejudice against America’s Asian-American community.
In true Trumpian fashion, he continued using the term ‘Chinese Virus’ anyway.
The controversy became such a media talking point that it drew a sharp rebuke from China’s government. A Chinese foreign affairs official tweeted (even though Twitter is banned in China) that the US should “keep their own house in order” before trying to place blame.
6/6 Chinese spox: Confounding public opinion, deflecting responsibilities & shouting “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus” will not help with their own or international efforts against #COVID19. U.S. should keep their own house in order, & contribute to global fight against the virus.
— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 24, 2020
But if one were to clarify that Chinese in ‘Chinese Virus’ refers to the state and not the ethnicity, then one would be perfectly justified in calling the outbreak the Chinese Virus.
Zoological origins
For the past two months, medical experts around the world have been trying to pinpoint the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak. Experts agree that it likely crossed species late last year but until last week had trouble pinpointing the virus’ zoological origins.
Last week, experts said that pangolins were a likely candidate as they were found to be carrying viruses closely related to Covid-19. (Read more)
If that is true then China has to shoulder more than a little blame for the spread of the coronavirus.
According to a report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, pangolins are a critically endangered species meaning that its trade, harvest, and consumption is strictly illegal under the Washington Convention on the trafficking of wildlife. Yet Pangolins are one of the most trafficked species in the world and China is the primary destination of the trade.
In China, in places like the fresh markets of Wuhan, pangolin meat is harvested as a delicacy while the animal’s scales are used in traditional medicine. If the disease was transmitted through pangolins, the blame rests squarely on the Chinese government for not only failing to enforce its wildlife smuggling and consumption laws but, as several wildlife protection groups have stated, turning a blind eye to the fresh markets of its nation.
Government cover-up
What is worse is that when the disease did cross-species and begin to infect people in Wuhan, Hubei, the Chinese government did its best to suppress information and failed to notify international authorities of the potential threat.
A whistleblower, Dr. Li Wenliang notified his colleagues as early as December that he detected a virus he thought looked a lot like the SARS coronavirus.
For his trouble, the Chinese government placed him under investigation and had him arrested. They told him to stop spreading rumours and making false statements. Dr. Li would later die in the epidemic, prompting unprecedented social media solidarity in China against the central government.
Dr. Li was not the only Chinese official to highlight the attempts at a coverup by Beijing. The mayor of Wuhan, Zhou Xianwang, told the press that when he tried to alert the media and the world about the seriousness of the virus, he was stopped by Beijing’s propaganda machine who feared losing face.
International politics over humanity
Then, of course, there was this interview with the World Health Organization.
Dr. Bruce Aylward of #WHO just hung up when asked about Taiwan’s membership. How shameful it is. pic.twitter.com/GoFu1mPqti
— Frank (@Frank70694737) March 28, 2020
Though Taiwan has been praised around the world for its exemplary response to the coronavirus outbreak, it has not been with the help of the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO has gone out of its way to kowtow to Beijing’s line going so far as to not even give Taiwan observer status at coronavirus meetings.
“We hope through the test of this epidemic, the WHO can recognize clearly that epidemics do not have national borders, no one place should be left out because any place that is left out could become a loophole… any place’s strength shouldn’t be neglected so that it can make contributions to the world,” said Taiwan’s health minister Chen Shih-Chung in a recent press statement.
Given China’s role in the origins of the disease, its coverup of Covid-19’s early stages and its continued insistence on playing politics despite the deadly nature of the pandemic, maybe Trump is right and we should just call it the Chinese Virus.