China can’t escape responsibility for ‘Wuhan flu’

The Communist Party is guilty of rank hypocrisy in seeking to portray Beijing as the world’s saviour

At a time when the rest of the world is facing meltdown over the coronavirus pandemic, there is something deeply unedifying about China’s attempts to capitalise on the crisis to further its own global ambitions.

Beijing may take umbrage at Donald Trump’s constant reference to the outbreak as “the China virus” or “the Wuhan flu”, but the American president is simply stating the obvious, namely that the worst public health crisis the world has witnessed in a century originated in a Chinese wild animal market at the end of last year.

Moreover, the slow response of the Chinese authorities in dealing with the outbreak, together with the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) initial attempt to conceal the true extent of the crisis, may well explain why it is Europe, and not China, that now enjoys the dubious distinction of becoming the pandemic’s epicentre.

One of the CCP’S guiding principles is that nothing can be allowed to undermine its supremacy. This would explain why, rather than heed the warnings of Dr Li Wenliang, the doctor who first identified the terrifying threat posed by Covid-19, the Chinese authorities denounced him for “rumour-mongering”, and either ignored or played down the risks until well into January.

By that time, Dr Li was at death’s door having contracted the virus, while the tens of thousands of travellers making their way from Wuhan to destinations around the world guaranteed a local crisis became an epidemic of truly global proportions.

To compound their incompetence, the Chinese authorities then failed to cooperate with the World Health Organisation to anything like the necessary extent, denying the outside world access to crucial information that may well have prevented the disease from becoming a pandemic.

Yet, rather than accept responsibility for causing the crisis, Beijing is seeking to rewrite history by silencing its critics, while positioning itself as the lead aid donor for other countries afflicted by the virus.

To this day, the rest of the world still does not know for certain how many people in China have died from coronavirus or how many remain infected. But the CCP still insists on pumping out propaganda, portraying the country as “the enabler of miraculous human feats” in terms of combating the virus. Beijing’s Central

Propaganda Department has even published a book in several languages praising the role President Xi Jinping personally played in curbing the outbreak.

Meanwhile, Chinese activists such as Xu Zhiyong, who provided a more apt description of President Xi’s performance by calling it “clueless”, is being held in secret detention in Beijing on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power”.

Further afield, Beijing’s attempts to exonerate itself for the outbreak have led the Chinese to try to shift the blame on to America, with officials at China’s foreign ministry absurdly suggesting that the virus can be traced back to an American military delegation that visited Wuhan last October.

The Chinese authorities have evidently been rattled by the accusations of incompetence, which is why they are so desperate not to be held accountable for causing a disaster of truly catastrophic proportions. It has also prompted Beijing to launch a global charm offensive, where it aims to use its vast aid budget to curry favour with those countries worst affected by the virus.

In what amounts to a blatant attempt to exploit the pandemic it helped to create for its own geopolitical ends, Beijing wants to highlight the superiority of the communist system over all others in tackling the crisis, as well as Mr Xi’s munificence. In short, China is seeking to take advantage of the coronavirus to replace the US in its global leadership role.

Thus, when the European Union ignored Italy’s desperate pleas for aid to deal with its coronavirus epidemic earlier this month, Beijing filled the gap by airlifting 31 tonnes of medical supplies.

Many other countries in Europe, as well as other regions such as Africa, have been the grateful recipients of Beijing’s largesse. In Serbia, the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, was so pleased with the aid provided by China that he publicly praised the “centennial and strong-as-steel friendship” between the two countries.

The rank hypocrisy of China’s attempts to profit from the pandemic will not be lost on countries like the US, which are under no illusions about the CCP’S ruthlessness when its own survival is at stake.

And it raises serious concerns about the CCP’S credibility. It is said party apparatchiks missed the early warning signs about coronavirus because, back in December, they were more interested in attending regional CCP summits than taking seriously the warnings of professionals like Dr Li.

This is not the conduct of a regime that is fit to govern. It is the behaviour of a corrupt elite that has no interest in protecting the interests of its citizens, nor those of the world beyond.