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Thursday, April 30, 2020

A balanced media narrative is in order

https://youtu.be/QlhoNX5xWAA

Founder of The Grayzone disputes conspiracy theories targeting China

https://youtu.be/uBp3oqTMRjs

Trump Wrongly Suggests Virus Will 'Just Go Away' As U.S. Deaths Top 60,000
https://youtu.be/mTnIW7o1pqE

Political dysfunction defines U.S. COVID-19 response

https://youtu.be/0cI2hjyutcs


Anyone without a scales over his eyes and who has not succumbed to cerebral shampooing by the West will have realised by now that large parts of its media are biased, if not outright antagonistic, in their reporting of |"China.


FROM the riots in Hong Kong last year, whitewashed as peaceful pro-democracy protests, to the lockdown of Wuhan and other Chinese cities, derided as draconian and an abuse of human rights, the sting was always there, and often not even hidden in between the lines.

All this will be denied, of course, and not just by those media owners and employees but also the readers and viewers who swear by them. It is futile to debate them, such is their ideological bias that they leave themselves no room for doubt, much less introspection. They are entitled to their reading of China, of course, as are their critics to theirs.

It is perfectly understandable that Western media, especially those that publish and broadcast in English, will want to push what they believe is the interest of the West. No one should expect them to speak up for China and other non-Western nations. Or question the liberal democracy dogmas they have grown up with.

To be fair, there are also not a few among them who genuinely believe that what they do is also for the good of the Chinese suffering under the yoke of a totalitarian regime. And so they have gone at it full tilt, especially the Anglophone media.

It would be foolish for people in this part of the world not to see all this for what it really is - a war, not yet a shooting one but a war by other means nonetheless. Only the wilfully blind will fail to see that it is being waged by the United States and some of its allies to stymie a rising China just so they can hold on to their global hegemony.

Demonising and then isolating China, through disinformation and misinformation, is just one of the means. In the relentless pursuit of that goal, truth, to paraphrase what Hiram Johnson, US Senator for California, first said in 1918, has become the first casualty of this war. So much for the self-serving cant about these media being “respected” providers of fair, objective and balanced coverage.

Does all that matter? I submit that it does, to the millions in Singapore, Malaysia and many other former British colonies who have relied all these years on the English-language global media for their news, analyses and commentaries.

It’s time they woke up, if they have not already done so, to the fact that their understanding of what is happening in China, and, for that matter, many other places from Syria to Venezuela, is being shaped by those media with an unholy agenda.This awakening cannot come too soon as some Western media are piling on the pressure by echoing the spurious demands of anti-China politicians that Beijing must pay for the damage caused by the Covid-19 virus which it has set loose on the world.

If allowed to escalate and proliferate, this incitement of people whose lives are being devastated by the pandemic, is sure to result in more racist attacks against people of Chinese ethnicity, particularly in Western countries. It may well spin out of control into an armed confrontation between two sides, very possibly in the South China Sea.

But what can ordinary readers and viewers do? Well, they can send these media organisations a message. Those who have no problem taking pen to paper should write a protest note to them each time they spot a deliberate distortion - or to their respective regulator.

Nothing will come out of it, for sure, but those who are neither pro- nor anti-China but believe in fair play have to take a stand against deliberate bias and make it clear they will not stand for it.

It is in their enlightened self-interest to do so; if these media can target China now, then they can just as easily turn on their country next and cause damage, as was the case for Hong Kong when the Anglophone media turned a blind eye to all the fire-bombing, vandalism and vicious attacks against innocent citizens, and glorified the perpetrators as freedom fighters.

For those not inclined to write, they can just stop reading or viewing biased media. There are Singaporeans who have cancelled their subscription of The New York Times and ceased watching CNN over the slanted coverage of the Hong Kong riots. Yes, they care enough for Hong Kong and, more importantly, for fair play.

Sure, protesting this way may be inconvenient for those who are monolingual in English as there are few other media organisations that can rival the top Western players in global coverage and reach.

According to Comscore, the audience research agency, as at July last year, CNN had 166 million unique multi-platform visitors, BBC 148 million, Yahoo 117 million and FoxNews.com 111 million.

But choices in English are still there - Al Jazeera, which says it has more than 65 bureaus around the world and whose Arabic, English and other language networks have a combined reach into more than 220 million households; and CGTN, China’s global television network, which says its free-to-air English service reaches 85 million viewers in over 100 countries.

Admittedly, Al Jazeera and CGTN are nowhere near CNN or the BBC in reach and brand value but any fair-minded reader/viewer who has followed their work for a sustained period knows their products are nothing to sniff at.

Anecdotal accounts suggest that CGTN and, in particular, its presenter Liu Xin are gaining traction among the better educated in Singapore because of their measured and fact-based approach to presenting news and commentaries.

The accent of this commentary is on biased reporting of China. If readers and viewers are reluctant to forgo following Anglophone media despite their thinly veiled bias against China and other non-allied powers like Iran, then the least they can do is to also watch or read nascent competitors for balance.

And not to forget: their own English language national or regional media, too - whether it be the South China Morning Post, The Star in Malaysia or The Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia in Singapore. They make no self-glorifying claims to being the gold standard for good journalism but they do try to be objective, fair and balanced.

Individually, each may not have the resources of the existing global players. But in this regard, there is no reason why they cannot pool resources where possible and compete on the world’s media stage. Fair, constructive competition cannot be bad for media consumers. And the English-language media landscape deserves more than just the Anglo-Saxon narrative.

By Leslie Fong, a former editor of The Straits Times. The views here are his own. Source link

Read more:

Covid-19 Update:

Covid-19: Current situation in Malaysia (updated daily)

Covid-19: Total cases so far (updated daily)



US pushes S.China Sea hegemony amid pandemic

The US Navy said on April 21 that the USS America and two other vessels entered the South China Sea. In the face of the raging coronavirus epidemic in the US, Washington has shown no intention to halt pressuring China on the South China Sea issue.

Provoking human civilization must be rejected

The racist remarks about the novel coronavirus and the subsequent racial discrimination, racial contradictions and racial conflicts are all blatant provocations against modern civilization that should be resisted by the international community. All responsible media in the world should firmly adhere to justice and jointly protect the basic values of human civilization. 

 Respect for science will win COVID-19 fight

There is no way either of our countries can deal with transnational challenges like pandemics or climate change acting alon

Global cooperation will plug loopholes the US creates

Cooperation is the most effective solution to fix that loophole. But if the world cannot keep a sober head on this, there will probably be a more profound crisis waiting for humanity after the pandemic is gone.  


Related posts:
US President Donald Trump File Photo: AFP US registers millionth case as pandemic lockdowns ease ... We Are Living in a Failed.

Recently, Germany’s largest newspaper ‘Bild’ published an invoice amounting to €149bil that Beijing ‘owes’ Berlin from the impact of Co.
https://youtu.be/_YvshUZ0ZSQ Enough is enough. Enough hypocrisy for this one world. What do you want from us, anyway? What D...
https://youtu.be/DPt-zXn05ac

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Malaysian Movement Control Order (MCO) enters the fourth phase

Now we’re entering the 43rd day of MCO in Malaysia. It’s 29th of April 2020 and the 6th day of Ramadan. Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO) period started with :

#Phase1 March 18, 2020 to March 31, 2020

#Phase2 April 1, 2020 to April 14, 2020

#Phase3 April 15, 2020 to April 28, 2020

#Phase4 April 29, 2020 to May 12, 2020


Malaysia reported 94 more Covid-19 cases on Wednesday (Apr 29), bringing the total number of Covid-19 infections in the country to 5,945. May be more phases to go through. And still not totally out  for sure.

'No need to apply again'

Approved sectors can continue operating under new MCO phase to 100%
 Businesses approved under MCO 1-3 are now allowed to operate at full capacity. Industry leaders welcome the relaxation and say they will adhere to the new SOP required of them to continue their operations.
It’s full throttle for economic sectors that are allowed to operate earlier as the nation enters the fourth phase of the movement control order (MCO) today. International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali

E&E players laud govt decision

The Malaysian electrical and electronic (E&E) industry lauds the government’s decision to allow selected economic sectors that have been operating at half capacity to operate at full capacity beginning today. The move is good news for... http://mystar.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx#


Govt to look into operations of daycare centres for working parents


The government will look into the operations of daycare centres, now that the economic sectors are allowed to carry on business at full capacity, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pic).

The Senior Minister said the authorities were aware of the need for daycare centres and nurseries to be reopened, as affected parents could return to work.

Ismail Sabri said the Special Cabinet Committee would look into the matter during its meeting on April 30 (Thursday).

"We are aware that many people are asking who will look after their children now that they are allow to return to work.

"So, we will look into this tomorrow and come up with details and solutions," he told a press conference on Wednesday (April 29).

Under the fourth phase of the movement control order (MCO), economic sectors operating at half capacity during phases one to three will be allowed to carry on business at full capacity.

Ismail Sabri also said the minister in charge of religious affairs would be asked for his views on whether terawih prayers in mosques would be allowed with social distancing.

"In addition, we will discuss and look for a SOP for football matches.

"I have received a letter from the Youth and Sports Minister on whether matches under the Malaysian League may continue after the MCO," he said.


Industries hope for more approvals

 


Second phase of Prihatin payout to start May 4


The second phase of the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) payout will begin on May 4, says the Finance Minister.

Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said it would cover all eligible recipients in the bottom 40 (B40) and middle 40 (M40) groups.

“As of April 26, more than 3.26 million new applications and appeals were received.

“They comprised 2.96 million new applications and 305,000 appeals, ” he said when tabling the third Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package Implementation report.

Tengku Zafrul also reminded that the deadline for the submission of applications and appeals for the one-off cash assistance was April 30 (tomorrow).

“The payout announcement will be made next week following the completion of the review process, ” he said yesterday.

Under the first phase of the BPN handouts, the government disbursed RM5.47bil to 7.74 million recipients.

Tengku Zafrul said cash payments to those who did not have a bank account started on April 17.

The process proceeded smoothly with more than 157,000 people having received the cash aid at Bank Simpanan Nasional branches nationwide.

On the easy financing facilities to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) made available since March 6, Tengku Zafrul said RM4.5bil of the RM6.3bil fund administered by Bank Negara Malaysia had been approved for 8,500 SMEs up to last Sunday.

“Regarding the (RM2.1bil) Special Prihatin Grant for micro enterprises, they can begin applying for the grant (of RM3,000 per company) from this Friday.

“The application process will be overseen and announced by the Inland Revenue Board in the near future, ” he said.

On the Wage Subsidy Programme to assist employers in retaining their workers, Tengku Zafrul said up to April 26, the government had approved applications from 195,000 employers involving 1.5 million workers compared with 159,000 employers involving one million workers a week earlier.

The programme has a total allocation of RM5.9bil, which is estimated to benefit 3.3 million workers. — Bernama

Here’s the current situation:


1. Non-essential businesses and offices in Malaysia are closed during the order and staff will continue to work from home. Over 2 millions Malaysians may be left jobless once MCO is over.

2. All forms of learning are online including school & gym classes. Parents are appreciating teachers and caretakers more and more.

3. Only essential shops are operating - groceries, banks, pharmacies, petrol stations and now hardware stores.

4. Face mask is now a commodity. And has became a fashion trend.

5. Sanitizers, disinfectants and soaps are now essentials.

6. Most shops won't allow you to enter unless you have a face mask on and your temperature taken.

7. Shops stick tape on the floor to help customers keep a distance of 1 meter between each other.

8. Restaurants are only open for takeaways. Delivery is life.

9. The number of people at the store is limited.

10. Non-essential shops and enterprises are closed. Some closing down permanently. 11. All entertainment outlets are closed.

12. There is now a curfew. We cannot be outside our homes after 8pm. All essential shops closes by 8pm. And naturally you do not want to be in stores for long!

13. Public transports are only available at certains hours too.

14. Most airplanes are grounded and tickets are crazy expensive.

15. Hotels are converted to quarantine centres. And some are shutting down.

16. The entire sports season is cancelled.

17. Concerts, excursions, festivals, entertainment activities has been cancelled / postponed.

18. Weddings, family celebrations, holiday parties - postponed

19. No gatherings allowed. Places of worship are closed - mosques,churches, temples. Services are held online. Lonely calls of Azans can be heard, but you are not invited to the mosque.

20. The government has roadblocks everywhere and prohibits all unnecessary travel.

21. Petrol is RM1.25 and yet, no one is queuing at stations.

22. The Health DG is more popular than the PM.

23. There are daily updates on new cases, rehabilitation and death, from all govt depts.

24. Frontliners - doctors, nurses, police, paramedics, and others at curbing the disease are the real heroes.

25. Back liners - cleaners, security guards and even e-hailing/delivery riders and others that are helping us get through this trying time, we learn to appreciate all of them more and more.

26. There are no physical Bazaar to go to this Ramadan.

27. And Raya will most likely be celebrated online with your loved ones...to be updated by 12 May 2020.

One day, this will appear on this memory feed to remind me that "life and freedom" are precious. The new norm has begun. Don't take things for granted, but cherish everything ...Think Positively.

You are not stuck at home, you are safe at home.

Read more: 

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Trump team is driving US to ‘failed state’ status, leading the World in Coronavirus Cases

US President Donald Trump File Photo: AFP

Trump's gang self-exposed: We are ALL vaccinated! Covid-19 is a CIA plot against all mankind!

https://youtu.be/Vbb-i3b7E4M

Political dysfunction defines U.S. COVID-19 response

https://youtu.be/0cI2hjyutcs



US registers millionth case as pandemic lockdowns ease ...



We Are Living in a Failed State - The Atlantic

https://youtu.be/_TkbCjUrYKI

How do Americans view Trump's anti virus performance? https://youtu.be/Nl5JZVueLkg

Jon Meacham On Trump's Handling Of Virus: 'This Isn't Paintball, This Is Life Or Death'

https://youtu.be/_OqenizEjk4

https://youtu.be/Sjr8t_4iRno

https://youtu.be/utw27J7Z1BQ

COVID-19 might have spread in U.S. earlier than previously thought: expert


https://youtu.be/anFUPp7mvhc /div>

Richard Horton: We should work together with China fighting COVID-19

https://youtu.be/yCnSEzRedGo

It's unthinkable that US media outlets would call their own country a "failed state." The term was once used to describe US adversaries such as Iran and Iraq.

The US think tank Fund for Peace started its annual report called Failed States Index in 2005. It has been renamed the Fragile States Index and is produced jointly with Foreign Policy magazine. It didn't take long for the US to be included in the index.

US political scientist Francis Fukuyama, who once believed history would end with liberal democracy as the final form of government for all countries, has since changed his mind, writing in his 2016 article "America: the failed state" that the US should give up "entirely on global leadership." In another article titled "We Are Living in a Failed State" published by The Atlantic, staff writer George Packer said that the coronavirus has made the US "a beggar nation in utter chaos" and that "like France in 1940, America in 2020 has stunned itself with a collapse that's larger and deeper than one miserable leader."

Many people in China who once worshiped the US are not taking any pleasure in witnessing the decline of the US. China cares about Americans.

"As of April 20, China had provided the US with over 2.46 billion masks, meaning seven masks for each [person] in the US, plus nearly 5,000 ventilators" and many other types of medical equipment, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Twitter on Thursday.

China does need to take a lesson from the US and examine why the once great country has failed to protect its people, fallen into political division, been stunned by corruption and unparalleled social divide?

China must continue to be wary of US radical policies, including making China a scapegoat for its failures. The news site Politico reported on Friday, that the National Republican Senatorial Committee "has sent [election] campaigns a detailed, 57-page memo authored by a top Republican strategist advising GOP candidates to address the coronavirus crisis by aggressively attacking China." According to Politico, "Republicans have indicated they plan to make China a centerpiece of the 2020 campaign."

Attempts to stigmatize China reflect the degradation of the US. The Trump administration's radical policies that at first seem to create an advantage actually damage the US.

Over the last three years, the Trump administration has nearly destroyed the foundation of international order that's been in place since the end of the Cold War. It has pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and many other international treaties and organizations.

Over the past three months, the Trump administration has doubled the Federal Reserve's balance sheet via measures including quantitative easing and strong stimulus policies, making US dollar the most unstable factor in the global monetary order. It has also severely shaken the international financial system. Global assets are now facing the risk of suddenly plunging or skyrocketing at any time.

Over the past three weeks, the Trump administration has escalated the international oil price war, causing oil prices to collapse. For the first time in history, crude oil was trading at negative prices on April 20, disturbing the global energy market, and making the US withdraw from the oil hegemony system that it has maintained for half a century.

Over the past three seconds, Trump might have made even more startling statements again. Numerous people are wondering how the US system can tolerate such a person as a president. The Washington Consensus is dead, the beacon of democracy, freedom and human rights that the US has long adhered to has collapsed.

The current US government, which most US elites are dissatisfied with, is not only hurting itself, it also wants to harm China. The US scapegoating China makes the US look like some immoral person spitting at an innocent person. The signing of the TAIPEI Act and seeking compensation from China for coronavirus losses are without doubt equivalent to clenching its fists and getting ready to throw punches.

It is like a bad kid who gets low marks, blames others and even undermines their chances of passing the exam.

China will not get stuck in the blame game with the US, nor will it become a grave good of a declining US. Going its own way is still key for China. China is confident of doing a good job in not only containing the virus, but also resuming economic activities.

It is a pity that the Trump administration seems to have opened this Pandora's box, allowing fighting, division, unpredictability and selfishness to spread around the world. The US is no longer the world's dominant force, but it is still powerful. If it continues its willful misbehavior, Washington will bring disaster not only to the US, but all of human kind.

Nobel laureate in economics, Joseph E. Stiglitz, once wisely noted; "The only way forward, the only way to save our planet and our civilization, is a rebirth of history. We must revitalize the Enlightenment and recommit to honoring its values of freedom, respect for knowledge and democracy."

The author is professor and executive dean of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, and executive director of China-US People-to-People Exchange Research Center. His latest book is Great Power's Long March Road.wangwen2013@ruc.edu.cn

Source link

Read more:


1 million COVID-19 infections show US no super power

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US exceeded 1 million on Tuesday, making the country the only one with more than a million infections. More than 56,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the US. On Monday, global coronavirus cases passed 3 million, meaning one in three patients is in the US. The US government has failed its people and also failed the world.

Americans to suffer from Trump's buck passing

The US response to the epidemic is undoubtedly one of the worst in the world. While the country's powerful elites should shoulder inescapable responsibility, the Trump administration's wrongdoing turn out to be mostly blameful.

Case shows the US most guilty of impeding freedom of speech

If this were about a Chinese girl, the US media would be enjoying a carnival: They might try their best to contact the family to get some words they can use to maliciously make up stories.

Provoking human civilization must be rejected

The racist remarks about the novel coronavirus and the subsequent racial discrimination, racial contradictions and racial conflicts are all blatant provocations against modern civilization that should be resisted by the international community. All responsible media in the world should firmly adhere to justice and jointly protect the basic values of human civilization.

Respect for science will win COVID-19 fight

There is no way either of our countries can deal with transnational challenges like pandemics or climate change acting alone.



Morrison's adventurism could damage China-Australia relations beyond repair

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a series of phone calls last week to several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, appealing for their support of Australia's “independent” inquiry into “the origin and spread” of the COVID-19 outbreak, with China as the thinly veiled target.

Political motives behind China smears

China's achievement in the fight against COVID-19 is way better than that of the US. But China is confronting waves of accusations, which have been launched by Washington, and supported and followed by other Western countries and forces.

Pompeo an enemy to world peace

Lies may fulfill Pompeo's personal ambition, but they will never accomplish the US dreams to be "great again." Pompeo is not only a figure harmful to world peace, but also should be listed as the worst US secretary of state in its history.

Anti-virus gap with China to crush Washington lies

A country's public image is ultimately earned by its efforts, rather than empty talk or lies. Chinese people should keep calm and maintain confidence and patience.

WHO should probe US' virus misconduct

Since the situation is grave, we strongly call on the WHO to intervene in the investigation in the US' initial COVID-19 spread. The WHO's participation can ensure that the investigation is not distorted by the upcoming presidential election. It can also ensure that the conclusions are scientific rather than simply catering to politics. People need to see true reports that are responsible for history.

Hooliganism infects US judiciar

The “blame China” campaign is nothing more than a publicity stunt by the US. Lawyers and organizations involved don't expect to win; they care more about the news coverage such a lawsuit would garner than the result itself. This also applies to the Trump administration.




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https://youtu.be/DPt-zXn05ac

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Should China compensate the world for Covid-19?

Recently, Germany’s largest newspaper ‘Bild’ published an invoice amounting to €149bil that Beijing ‘owes’ Berlin from the impact of Covid-19. — Reuters

U.S. top health adviser rejects lab-made virus theory


The U.S. administration has been flirting with a theory that the novel coronavirus was created in a Chinese lab, but top White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci has rejected that.

https://youtu.be/T2csc3Pi42c

https://youtu.be/0kX6zYAl-1c


Donald Trump claims injection of disinfectants could be a viable way to treat COVID-19 patients. Experts express concerns that it might mislead the public.


https://youtu.be/ciJZDDZbyw8


Trump's gang self-exposed: We are ALL vaccinated! Covid-19 is a CIA plot against all mankind!

https://youtu.be/Vbb-i3b7E4M

https://youtu.be/Sjr8t_4iRno

https://youtu.be/utw27J7Z1BQ


Richard Horton: We should work together with China fighting COVID-19

https://youtu.be/yCnSEzRedGo

Science man: Dr Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has refuted Trump’s theory that the coronavirus came from a lab in Wuhan. — AP

IN recent weeks, some anti-China governments and lawyers have been hyping up unreasonable demands for compensation to the tune of billions – and even trillions – from Beijing for the origin and spread of Covid-19.

China has become an easy target in the current global public health catastrophe just because the first novel coronavirus case was reported in Wuhan in the mainland.

This anti-China campaign to press for hefty compensation is getting more intense as Western politicians lend credence to the movement.

The first case was fired off by a Florida attorney, who filed a federal class-action lawsuit on March 12 against the Chinese government, accusing it of “a slow early response” to the coronavirus crisis in China that caused “injury and incalculable harm” to business and people totalling US$6bil (RM26.2bil).

On April 18, US President Donald Trump added fuel to the fire when he warned that China could face consequences for the Covid-19 pandemic.

“If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, I mean, then sure there should be consequences,” Trump was quoted by Reuters as saying at a daily media briefing.

He did not state the actions the United States might take.

Trump and his senior aides have been accusing China for a lack of transparency in dealing with the coronavirus spread in its Wuhan province, after failing to gain support from scientists in his earlier exertion that the virus had originated from China.

China has repeatedly denied all allegations.

US allies – the UK, France, Australia and India – have joined in the fray to incriminate China.

Most recently, Germany’s largest newspaper, Bild, published a €149bil itemised “invoice” that Beijing “owes” Berlin from the impact of Covid-19.

It is obvious that with the pandemic engulfing over 200 countries, some governments that have failed to contain the virus spread in their backyard are looking for a scapegoat.

Many Western countries have been pointing fingers at China.

Although China has wiped out its epidemic and is helping other countries fight the battle, it continues to face a ruthless barrage of vicious allegations and accusations.

Besides using China as a scapegoat, the US and West are seen as taking the opportunity to smear China and discredit the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by President Xi Jinping.

To them, it is unthinkable that the CPC was able to mobilise 1.4 billion Chinese nationals to stay indoor for two months from January to March until the virus was contained.

Hence, instead of choosing the global cooperation advocated by Beijing, Trump is constantly picking on China with old and new accusations.

As the US is facing a presidential election in November, bashing China is seen as a strategy to gain electoral support as past surveys have shown that many Americans dislike the CPC.

But by focussing on geopolitics, Trump is allowing the deadly virus to creep into all corners of the United States.

The United States is now the worst-hit nation in the current pandemic.

Covid-19 has infected 905,333 people and killed 51,949 across the country as of Saturday, according the Johns Hopkins University.

Globally, infections have shot passed 2.82 million with death toll at over 197,500 as of Saturday, according to the official website of World Health Organisation (WHO).

Science man: Dr Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has refuted Trump’s theory that the coronavirus came from a lab in Wuhan. — AP

Origin of Covid-19

Up to now, the origin of the virus is still a mystery – at least in the world of science.

Although Wuhan was the first to report the new virus, recent studies on genomes show that Covid-19 could have originated in the United States or elsewhere.

While Trump has now switched his rhetoric to whether the virus had emanated from a lab in Wuhan.

The WHO officials and Trump’s own White House advisers have refuted this hypothesis.

The WHO has repeatedly said that “from all available evidence, the novel coronavirus was not manipulated or constructed in a laboratory.”

Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the White House, has rejected Trump’s allegations too.

Before this, a group of researchers have already written in the journal Nature Medicine: “Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.”

Repeated blame on China

Since the talk on origin and lab conspiracy do not hold water, then what else can Beijing be faulted on?

Chinese leaders have been repeatedly accused of “not being transparent, covering up and suppressing information” in the early stage of the outbreak by Trump and his Western allies.

Although China has admitted there were early missteps and underestimation of public risks during the initial stage, it had quickly acted to inform the WHO and scientists in the United States soon after.

“This miscalculation did not hinder the communication between Chinese and foreign scientists. All data were sent out, including a thesis by Chinese scholars in international academic journals,” said China’s Global Times.

On Jan 20, China made public its findings on human-to-human transmissions.

Global Times argued: “At the global level, the time lost could have been compensated by taking resolute measures. This was especially true for those countries far from China.”

Wuhan locked down its city in the early hours of Jan 23, and from then onwards, China rapidly mobilised. Harsh measures to prevent contagion were criticised but the country struggled on.

And by early March, China had brought the situation in China under control.

In fact, the accusation that Beijing had delayed in informing the world about Covid-19 has been refuted by WHO and Western scientists.

Scientists in China have won international praise for hitting several key milestones in understanding the novel, fast-moving virus, according to research and innovation forum Science/Business on April 7.

Ian Jones, professor of biomedical sciences at Reading University, told its newsletter: “We will never know if faster action in those first days could have averted the outbreak. Despite the initial slow reaction, there has been a very open dialogue since and many research findings from the Chinese experience are now appearing.”

Dr Zhang Jixian, the first doctor to report Covid-19 cases to Wuhan authorities on Dec 27, defended Beijing by stating authorities had responded promptly after getting her report.

In an interview on April 18 with CGTV, the director of the department of respiratory and critical care medicine at the Hubei Provincial Hospital showed records of a medical consultation of seven Covid-19 patients at the early stage.

A vendor at the Huanan Seafood Market, who was sent to the hospital on Dec 27, 2019, showed the severest symptoms among the seven.

“I reported to the district at noon on Dec 27, and they came to conduct an epidemiological survey that afternoon and collected patients’ blood samples and throat swabs,” Zhang said.

As the hospital in which Zhang works could not identify the source of infection, expert help from the district level and provincial CDC was sought.

“They reacted quite quickly,” Zhang recalled.

“I suspected it could be a kind of infectious disease, but did not expect the virus to spread like this – so infectious and serious, and affecting so many areas.”

On Jan 3, China formally reported the situation to the WHO and other countries, including the United States.

Does the case against China hold water?

Hostile groups may file charges against China, but are these grounded on norms and legal principles?

It is an international practice that a sovereign or a government cannot be sued.

It is obvious from the reasons cited against China thus far that most have been based on imaginary assumptions and baseless allegations.

Even if the virus had originated from Wuhan, China should not be made to compensate the world, as virus knows no boundary and country. It can emerge anytime and anywhere.

When the H1N1 pandemic, which started in the United States in 2009 claimed an estimated over 200,000 lives worldwide, there was no claim against Washington.

Did Washington compensate the world for the economic and financial loss to investors and countries resulting from the collapse of the Lehman Brothers of the US in September 2008?

When the Ebola broke out in West Africa, the world behaved in a sympathetic and civil manner.

By the same token, China – the first victim of the pandemic – should not be assaulted.

Perhaps, governments attacking China should reflect on what they had not done after witnessing China suffer in January.

Hannan Hussain, a security analyst at the London School of Economics, comments “there is no case against China as Beijing has concrete information-sharing reference points”, including sharing the genome sequence of Covid-19 in January.

“Washington lacks similar precedents, given its removal of key CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) officials that were tasked with the tracking, investigation and containment of diseases in China,” he wrote in the South China Morning Post recently.

Reuters revealed on March 26 that the Trump administration had cut its staff presence at the CDC in Beijing by two-thirds over the past two years.

While the “lion-mouth” claims against China may eventually turn out to be a waste of time, the West and their proxies will achieve their motive of smearing China.

China-bashing will continue.

This should not come as a surprise, given that the United States and the West have often wanted to contain the rise of China, which has become the world’s second-largest economy and is now the only enviable country focusing on rebuilding its virus-battered economy.

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Coronavirus was 'not manmade or genetically modified', says US spy agency 

China: All coronavirus patients in Wuhan discharged


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