Smears by West have no place in virus fight

China’s success this month in containing the Delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19, following last year’s achievements, has become the envy of many countries that are still agonizing over how to beat a fresh wave of new cases. But some Western nations are turning to their old playbook of smearing China. China has committed to nationwide efforts to combat the pandemic. It is the first country to have overcome the coronavirus, and it has restored impressive positive economic growth this year. The national-level coordination and widespread public confidence in measures taken by the authorities to fight COVID-19 were crucial to China’s success in containing the pandemic throughout last year, as well as this month when dealing with outbreaks of the Delta variant in the cities of Nanjing and Yangzhou, Jiangsu province; Zhengzhou, Henan province; and Zhangjiajie, Hunan province. The country has realized that a coronavirus-free world and global economic recovery will be achievable only if the world battles the pandemic as one. Therefore, China has provided more than 750 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to over 100 nations, particularly to impoverished developing countries, to push for a better global response to the pandemic. China has paid a high price in containing the deadly disease. In a place as populous as China, the authorities have kept daily infection numbers to just single or double digits by the quarantining of arrivals, mass testing, vigorous contact tracing, lockdowns, travel curbs and other measures. China has battled the coronavirus with bravado, determination and efficiency, for which State leadership and local officials deserve credit.

This is a time of enormous human suffering, yet the West has still wagged its finger at China on the pandemic. From the beginning, some Western countries have liked to blame China and even fabricate information about the “lab leak theory”. Such fingerpointing not only hampers global joint efforts against the pandemic, but also threatens to shatter millions of lives.

Conspicuously, there is no substantial evidence to back allegations of a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, Hubei province, and there never will be, because such evidence does not exist. While World Health Organization scientists conducted a site visit early this year to Wuhan in their joint investigation with Chinese experts of the virus’ origin, the conclusion was clear that it was highly unlikely that the virus could have leaked from the virology laboratory.

Yet the world’s leading health body seems to have abandoned the specialists’ findings after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus weirdly called for a revisit to Wuhan and stressed an inspection of its laboratory was necessary to rule out the possibility of the virus having been leaked. We cannot help but ask, “Are there any political factors at play”? It has fueled suspicion that the United States has a clear end goal of stoking the hypothesis of the so-called lab leak theory for political purposes.

Above all, it does not adhere to the spirit of science for the WHO and some Western leaders to advocate a second phase of origintracing in China. Any queries or worries should have been raised after the specialists’ trip in January. The WHO’s release of new and contradictory messages six months after the trip would prove counterproductive in identifying the source of the novel coronavirus.

Smearing China has been a ploy to deflect the blame from Western nations’ bad responses to the pandemic. At the start of this year, many people in the US had high hopes that President Joe Biden would adopt a science-based antiCOVID pandemic approach, as opposed to his predecessor Donald Trump. Unfortunately, the Biden administration has failed to effectively combat the virus.

It is of the utmost importance for the international community to cooperate on fighting the coronavirus. Let’s exchange anti-COVID practices and learn from one another, rather than continuing to smear China.

Going forward, countries should accelerate efforts to combat the pandemic. First, leaders and health specialists need to step up the sharing of experiences on vaccination, lockdown and ways to revive the economy. Second, nations can establish a better notification system for the occurrence of any new variants and the sharing of genetic material regarding them. Third, the world should overcome the inequality of vaccine access among countries.

The WHO has said that without controlling the pandemic in developing nations, we cannot overcome the pandemic.

Undistracted by politicization, coronavirus origin-tracing efforts should build on science-based research. Playing the blame game will not help to resolve the pandemic crisis. As part of the next stage of the virus tracing, it is indispensable to initiate joint origin tracing across various countries and regions under a global framework.

The author is founder and chairman of the One Country Two Systems Youth Forum. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

It is of the utmost importance for the international community to cooperate on fighting the coronavirus. Let’s exchange anti-COVID practices and learn from one another, rather than continuing to smear China.