Global EditionASIA 中文雙語(yǔ)Fran?ais
Opinion
Home / Opinion / From the Press

Will US politicians continue their blame game or conquer the virus?

By Andrew Korybko | CGTN | Updated: 2020-04-24 14:07
Share
Share - WeChat
Amid concerns of the spread of COVID-19, kindergartner Eli Schweig, 6, helps his grandfather David unload outdoor products as they prepare their family owned retail store Sunnyland Outdoor Living for a limited re-opening in Dallas, US, April 22, 2020. /AP

The onset of the coronavirus epidemic in the United States and the failure of the Trump Administration to get ahead of the disease have created a considerable amount of hysteria in the general population. And when the seriousness of the virus threat gradually became clear to US leaders and a modest "social distancing" policy was implemented, the psychological situation became worse, with people uncertain if they would have jobs when the economy was restarted. Combine that with the fact that this is a presidential election year where groundless accusations and totally bogus arguments thrive, you have a real "theater of the absurd."

So you have this ridiculous situation in which a politically ambitious Eric Schmitt, the attorney governor of the state of Missouri, is making an unheard move to sue the government of China and the Chinese Communist Party for causing the distress of Missourians hit by COVID-19, by not telling the truth about the virus and by reacting too slowly in stopping the virus in China. Schmitt also plays into the totally debunked theory that this virus somehow originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Now it's not at all clear if such a frivolous case even has a legal leg to stand on with a State of the Union suing a foreign government. But it certainly has provided publicity for Schmitt's political ambitions. But we will no doubt be seeing more of this given the thrust of the State Department and other elements in the Trump administration in seeking scapegoats for their own policy failures.

As China's Ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, pointed out in a recent interview, the political atmosphere you have in the US can be characterized as the "ABC policy", meaning "Anything But China", that is, that nothing good should be said publicly about China or the Chinese government, whose growing respect in the international community is deemed a threat to Western hegemony.

When China was under the threat of the coronavirus, criticism was raised here about the "draconian" measures taken in Hubei. And as the virus spread to the United States, there was a clear resistance to do anything that might be construed as following "the Chinese example."

President Trump's initial measures of stopping all traffic with China in the hope that the virus would be kept out of the country were also interpreted as anti-China. But the virus was already here, and not simply as some "import" from China, since the most serious outbreak in the northeast United States indicated a European strain of the virus. But the tepid "social distancing," which is as far as this "ABC policy" would allow, precluded home quarantine, face masks, broad testing and contact tracing. And the failure to follow the only real successful example of stemming the epidemic resulted in the US losing more people to coronavirus than any other country.

And so the ABC narrative shifted. The coronavirus became "the Chinese virus." The wild claims by right-wing media that the virus was the result of research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or worse, even a form of Chinese biowarfare against the United States, were given some credibility at White House coronavirus briefings. The lack of face masks were due to "Chinese hoarding" in spite of the fact that most of the states, forced to attain the needed protective gear on their own, received them from China.

But when the White House realized that they had to use face masks in conducting their own business, they didn't turn to China, but to Taiwan, an additional rebuff to Chinese generosity. And now there is a build-up to "hold China responsible" in the aftermath of the pandemic, with the legal case in Missouri perhaps sounding the clarion call for similar measures to be taken by others.

But the world is not out of the woods yet. And there is a very real danger that if some form of normality returns by the summer, the onset of fall could bring an even more violent "viral storm" to the nation, and indeed, to the world. And while our politicians may be ensconced in frivolous lawsuits and similar petty pursuits in their campaign to contain China, more Americans will die.

It's time for our political leaders to "do the people's business," to save lives and to quickly repair our obviously dilapidated health systems. But they will have to do this in cooperation with China, which has developed some expertise in this business. As Chinese representatives have continually underlined, China is not the enemy, but a potential ally in this fight. The enemy is the virus. And to fight it successfully, we need solidarity between nations and not conflict.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 中文字字幕在线乱码| 亚洲黄色免费电影| 久久综合狠狠综合久久97色 | 78成人精品电影在线播放 | 国产欧美亚洲精品| www.四虎com| 欧美高清精品一区二区| 国产免费久久久久久无码| 一级毛片不收费| 欧美爽爽爽爽爽爽视频| 四虎成人精品一区二区免费网站| heyzo小向美奈子在线| 日本在线视频WWW鲁啊鲁| 亚洲桃色av无码| 黄大色黄美女精品大毛片| 天堂电影在线免费观看| 久久久无码精品亚洲日韩蜜桃| 爱豆在线观看网址91|免费| 国产99久久久久久免费看| 欧式午夜理伦三级在线观看| 无码中文字幕av免费放| 亚洲国产亚洲综合在线尤物| 男生的肌肌插入女生的肌肌| 国产亚洲美女精品久久久久| A级国产乱理论片在线观看| 有夫之妇bd中文字幕| 可播放的欧美男男videos| 欧美在线色视频| 国内偷窥一区二区三区视频| 中国孕妇变态孕交XXXX| 日韩精品无码一区二区三区AV| 午夜三级A三级三点在线观看| 黄色录像大片毛片aa| 国产精品美女一区二区视频 | 久久久不卡国产精品一区二区| 欧美一级在线播放| 午夜美女福利视频| 黄色三级免费看| 国产精品麻豆va在线播放| www.jizz在线观看| 扁豆传媒网站免费进入|