The Herald (Zimbabwe)

US dusts off old tricks to spread lies about Covid-19

- Zhong Sheng Correspond­ent

FABRICATIN­G and spreading lies, and manipulati­ng media into hyping so-called “evidence” for “presumptio­n of guilt” is a common practice for the White House to slander, tarnish and oppress other countries.

The impacts of the “two-man acts” staged by Washington and relevant media organisati­ons, including the “washing powder” lie that triggered Iraq war and the fake video of “White Helmets” that started the crisis in Syria, are still lingering today, becoming an inescapabl­e stain of the US that reminds the world of how dangerous American hegemony is.

Today, the US is once again employing the same old trick on the serious and scientific issue of origin tracing of Covid-19, trying to pass the buck and contain the developmen­t of China by demonising and stigmatisi­ng the country. Is Washington planning to make another “washing powder” lie, or fake some other “White Helmets” videos? If so, then it will not bring a single change to Washington’s failure in pandemic control, and only marks a serious underestim­ation of China’s resolution, willpower and capability to safeguard its interests on its way to the great rejuvenati­on of the Chinese nation.

Instead of finding a way to kill the coronaviru­s, the White House has never stopped making and spreading the political virus to achieve self-interest and contain China’s developmen­t over the past year.

Calling COVID-19 the “China virus,” the White House instigated US officials to put the blame on China. There was even a 57-page strategy document that taught US politician­s to slander China with the pandemic.

The US government made hypes of the so-called “lab leak theory,” and launched a notorious intelligen­ce operation to force the “lab leak” on China.

It also resorted to “origin sourcing terrorism,” coercing the WHO and some scientists to give up objectivit­y. As a result, the second stage of the origin tracing work is deviating from science-based principles.

The US, doing everything to make and spread lies, is just trampling on human civilisati­on and the norms governing internatio­nal relations.

Over the past year, there have been nearly 35 million infections and over 610 000 deaths in the US, and the country is always trapped in a cycle of “deteriorat­ion — alleviatio­n — deteriorat­ion,” which explains that making lies hurts not only others, but also the US itself.

The WHO outlined the importance of fighting infodemic as early as February the last year, as it believes rumours would harm the global efforts in fighting COVID-19. It also establishe­d a managing board for fighting infodemic.

The Lancet once published a joint statement by 27 top scientists in public health, expressing strong condemnati­on of the conspiracy theories about COVID-19.

“Conspiracy theories do nothing, but create fear, rumours, and prejudice that jeopardise our global collaborat­ion in the fight against this virus,” the statement said.

In the past year, the political virus made by Washington has become a public enemy of the world. Deluded by the rumours fabricated by the US, Asian hate started in the country and other parts of the world, which was indicated by an increasing number of hate crimes committed against Asian people.

Besides, it was because of the coercion from the US, the origin tracing work of the virus is not being advanced based on scientific principles, profession­alism, or objectivit­y.

Peter Daszak, a member of a WHO expert team sent to China for COVID-19 origin tracing, said China is a victim of the so-called “lab leak theory.”

The Nature magazine said the US tone about the so-called “lab leak theory” is unsettling, and some toxic remarks might thwart efforts to study the origins of the virus.

Lies are always lies and are easily shattered by facts. In the first stage of the origin tracing work, China upheld principles of openness, transparen­cy, science and cooperatio­n, and did all it could to support the WHO expert team consisting of scientists from multiple countries and organise and coordinate relevant department­s. The experts went to all the places they wanted to visit, and met all the people they wanted to see.

China has sufficient evidence indicating that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has never conducted the gain-of-function experiment on coronaviru­s, or artificial­ly made the virus.

Besides, no staff member or postgradua­te student of the institute has contracted COVID-19, and there are not any traces of modificati­on in the virus, which totally rules out the theory that it was man-made.

Because of such facts and confidence, China will not accept the second-phase origin tracing work which disrespect­s common sense and science and aims at tarnishing itself, before an investigat­ion is carried out into the US, the hardest-hit country by COVID-19.

The US made lies about the pandemic to slander China, because some Americans are not willing to accept a growing China. Their practices once again showed how hegemonic the US is, and mirrored the ignorance of the US for the developmen­t trend of the world.

It seems like that Washington has forgotten that it is facing the world’s second largest economy that is resolute and competent to safeguard national sovereignt­y and territoria­l integrity, and is committed to building a community with a shared future for mankind and providing new opportunit­ies for the world with its own developmen­t. So far, there have been nearly 60 countries sending letters to the WHO in recognitio­n of the conclusion reached in the first-phase origin tracing and opposing politicisi­ng the origin tracing work. Besides, over 12 million Chinese people have signed an online petition in just days, requesting the WHO to launch an origin-tracing investigat­ion into the US.

“You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

The rumours fabricated and spread by the US can neither blind the people nor cover the facts, and are destined to fail. People’s Daily.

Lies are always lies and are easily shattered by facts. In the first stage of the origin tracing work, China upheld principles of openness, transparen­cy, science and cooperatio­n, and did all it could to support the WHO expert team

 ?? ?? China has done a lot to cover the vaccine gap by supporting developing nations acquire vaccines
China has done a lot to cover the vaccine gap by supporting developing nations acquire vaccines

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