China to face stiffer challenges after Covid-19 pandemic, from recent news flow and anti-China remarks made by the US and its allies.

Beijing is helping the US and other unfriendly countries to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, but is this kind gesture worth it?

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今天，中美正式摊牌！百年国运之战已经开始！

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Free to travel: The Wuhan lockdown was lifted on april 8 after 76 days of tough isolation measures. — Bloomberg

IN three to nine months when the global Covid-19 pandemic subsides or ends, Beijing, which has put its domestic coronavirus contagion under control, may not be able to smile and celebrate with the rest of the world.

The path ahead is filled with challenges for China, the magnitude of which could be frightening.

This economic giant of the East, now leading the global fight against Covid-19, is likely to continue to face a barrage of accusations – or even lies – that could prompt opportunistic and hostile countries to demand compensations to the tune of billions or even trillions from Beijing based on the current narratives.

In short, China – the first country to be hit by the coronavirus, will have to brace itself for another intense battle after defeating the invisible coronavirus with a huge cost and sacrifice. If the republic is not prepared for these future challenges, its strong manufacturing sector may suffer, its important position in the global supply chain and its economy will be derailed.

This is the post Covid-19 scenario painted by Chinese netizens on social media, as they warn their leaders to stop giving free aid or sell medical supplies cheap to “ungrateful and evil” countries.

The worries of the Chinese nationals are not unfounded. They stem from recent news flow and anti-China remarks made by the US and its allies.

In Washington, China faces criticism over the way it had handled the pandemic, lack of transparency and alleged delay in sharing crucial information with the world on the virus. US President Donald Trump, who labelled the coronavirus the “Chinese virus” last month, has often said Beijing should have acted faster to warn the world of the risk. He has even expressed doubt over Chinese data on infections and deaths. All these verbal assaults are hurled at China even as the US and its allies are receiving Chinese aid or made-in-China surgical masks, ventilators, Covid-19 test kits and protective gear. As its production of masks is fast and efficient, accounting for about 50% of the world’s output, countries short of supply now have to turn to China for this essential commodity.

Out and about: People wearing face masks walking near a shopping complex after the lockdown in Wuhan was lifted. — Reuter

Although China has been sharing its experience and expertise in locking down Wuhan from Jan 23 to April 7 to curb the spread of the virus, it still has to endure incessant finger-pointing just because the first Covid-19 outbreak occured there.

While Trump has stopped calling it the “Chinese virus”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior officials have stepped up their campaign against China, insisting on labelling Covid-19 as “Chinese virus” and “Wuhan virus”.

By using the label, they are insinuating that the virus had originated from Wuhan. And by extention, China should compensate the virus-hit countries whose economies have been derailed and social life disrupted.

One class action lawsuit against China has been filed in the Federal Court in the US seeking damages suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic. The stigmatisation of China by US continues unabated despite the release of more and more studies – including those from the US – indicating that the virus could have originated from the US.

China has become the scapegoat for the US and other countries for their failings. They have not taken speedy action to control the spread of the disease despite watching China suffer in January through to March.

What angers the Chinese most is that in some countries, China’s kindness and generosity in extending help is cast with suspicion. It is not reciprocated with gratitude.

Recently, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on the bloc to be ready for a “struggle for influence” with Beijing. Some EU ministers even insinuated that Chinese aid is aimed at undermining European unity, after Italy and Serbia thanked Beijing profusedly for its help.

In response to remarks by a French minister claiming Beijing is waging a global propaganda campaign, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying retorted: “Do they wish to see China standing by idly while witnessing other countries suffer from the severe pandemic and losing lives? Do they think they can do better than China in handling the disease?”

Hua took the opportunity to reiterate China’s belief that only international solidarity, cooperation and mutual respect can overcome the difficulties. Stating Beijing’s objective is to save lives and help the world end the pandemic, she added: “China will not forget the international community had given it valuable support and help at the most difficult time in the country’s fight against Covid-19. Beijing is willing to reciprocate the kindness of others.”

China has said it has extended help to more than 127 countries in their fight against coronavirus.

It has given free medical aid to the world’s least-developed nations, such as Laos, Myanmar, Bangladesh and some African countries. Together with its private sector led by Alibaba Foundation and Huawei, it has also donated free medical supplies to almost all Southeast Asian nations and Pakistan. In response to calls for help from the US and traditional American allies like Spain, France and Japan, China has acted without hesitation. However, after getting medical supplies from China, some countries showed their ugly side.

Spain’s action was shocking and crude. After receiving the first batch of supplies in late March, the Spanish government returned 9,000 “quick result” test kits to China because they were “sub-standard”.

The sensibility of the test was only 30%, against the 80% expected. China responded by conducting its own probe. It was discovered that the test kits Spain bought were from an unlicensed Chinese firm, and the test kits the Spanish government ordered from the Chinese government had not arrived. Currently, Spain is among the worst-hit countries in the pandemic that has engulfed the whole globe.

In Asia, Beijing came to the rescue of Japan – one of the earliest countries to donate medical supplies to China in late January. When the Princess Diamond cruise ship docked in Japan, China donated test kits to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan. In the West, China sent France, Germany, Britain and US the much-needed medical supplies.

Chinese presence is also felt in Iran, the Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Liberia, Serbia and India.

But not all news is depressing for the Chinese.

Beijing has been showered with praise and gratitude by countries desperate for help. Many Italians sang Chinese national anthem and hoisted Chinese national flag from their flats after Beijing sent more than 300 experienced doctors to Rome to share their expertise and experience.

In early March, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic – who failed to get help from EU countries – said during a televised address: “European solidarity does not exist. I believe in my brother and friend Xi Jinping.”

Although China had admitted it was not perfect in its initial handling of Covid-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) still praises Beijing’s response and for its appropriate strategies in battling the virus, which has claimed over 3,300 deaths in the country.

The crisis in China is largely over, while the rest of the world is still busy fighting the Covid-19 war. In recent days, the daily domestic infections in China have fallen to zero or near zero, although it is still dealing with imported cases.

On Wednesday, the 76-day lockdown on Wuhan was lifted with cheer and celebrations.

While China has often emphasized international solidarity and cooperation to end the pandemic, its leaders have indicated the country will face more challenges post Covid-19.

The concerns of its people on social media could be felt in the editorial of Global Times on April 6: “As a major country that was among the firsts to bring the novel coronavirus under control, China must prepare to face an extremely complicated situation.”

China believes the pandemic is unlikely to end quickly and knows this will impact the world order and trigger turmoil, according to the official media of China.

It said: “Nationalists and populists may have more room to fan the flames and China is likely to become the target of certain Western leaders to displace their peoples’ anger and disappointment. China may face much more serious risks in international politics.”

During a key leadership meeting on Wednesday, Xi warned that new challenges have emerged for China’s work resumption and economic/social development. In a statement released after the meeting, Xi called for “preparedness in mind and work” to cope with external environment changes and demanded other Chinese leaders to redouble efforts in economic and social development.

Lest others forget this: China Today is not the Old China during the Ching Dynasty.

By HO WAH FOON


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Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticism and report of China are a lie, reflect Western elites’ hypocrisy, anti China-rise !

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HRW’s criticism of China is a lie

US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its World Report 2020 on Tuesday. Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW, said in his speech that China has launched an assault on the international human rights system.

An NGO as it is, HRW has been openly coordinating with the US on its tough China policy. The organization's funding source and personnel structure have shown it will embed US national interests deeply into its goals. Roth once served as a US federal prosecutor. HRW's extreme antagonism toward China results from his prejudice and political stand.

The organization's main business is global human rights, but it seems it is unfamiliar with human rights conventions and standards under the UN system. The right to development - a human right that the UN stresses the most - is almost completely missed out in the latest HRW's report.

People like Roth are only suitable for talking big in New York's high society. If their interpretation of human rights is examined from the perspective of developing societies and emerging markets, people will easily find they are narrow-minded and paranoid. They are keen to show their sympathy for the lack of human rights in developing societies, but they have no idea what the most important thing is there.

It is acceptable to criticize China. But HRW has been propagating a huge lie by smearing China, a country where modern life has spread rapidly and people's living standards have been greatly raised. HRW has been living in an abnormal atmosphere of public opinion about China.

Have people like Roth ever visited Chinese cities and spoken with ordinary Chinese families? Have they ever been to the shopping malls and streets that have sprung up all over China, and talked with ordinary Chinese people there? Have they left nightclubs and walked back to the hotel at night in China? Is China's human rights system the worst in the world? Are they talking about human rights or the privileges of the very few followers of the US value?

The life span of the Chinese people is becoming longer. Conditions of food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, public health services and provisions for the aged have been improved. Pollution has been effectively controlled. Chinese people have become the main force of global tourism and studying abroad. China's internet is also one of the most developed worldwide. These have formed the basis of the continuing development of China's human rights.

China is different from the US and the West politically. Thus, China has its own characteristics in political participation and governance of public opinion. The Chinese system supports the country's development. Our system does not threaten that of the West and should gain respect from the West.

Some extreme Western political elites have attacked China violently for geopolitical purposes. People like Roth are not really advocating the general advancement of human rights, but are following the needs of US politics. They are tarnishing the great human rights cause of mankind, and should be ashamed of it.

People like Roth should go deep into a huge society like China and really understand what is going on there and what people really care about. The likes of Roth should seriously study the world, not arrogantly represent the world.

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HRW report reflects Western elites’ hypocrisy: analysts

 

Experts attend a side-event on China's human rights protection of ethnic minorities amid the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, July 2, 2019.

Criticizing China for "suppressing" human rights is the card that the West has been playing for decades. This reflects the hypocrisy and deep ignorance of arrogant Western elites who cannot give an objective assessment of other countries' situations, analysts said on Wednesday, in response to the latest report of nongovernmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch which deemed China as a global threat to human rights development.

In its 335-page World Report 2020, the New York-based NGO claimed that China is now a global threat to human rights. Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW, claimed that the country is also using its "growing economic clout to silence critics and to carry out the most intense attack on the global system for enforcing human rights since that system began to emerge in the mid-20th century."

Roth was banned from entering Hong Kong on Sunday, about a month after the HRW was sanctioned by the Chinese central government for their "horrible activities" in instigating the months-long riots in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

The NGO, which claims it does not receive funds from the government, releases human rights reports every year, evaluating the global system for protecting human rights. However, many of its officials and members are former US federal government officials, and the NGO has been using its right to speak to export the ideological tendency, Chinese analysts said.

"To judge other countries at will by ignoring the facts is their way of doing things," an analysts close to a government-related think tank who preferred not to be named, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, another NGO, Freedom House, said in its latest report that Chinese media's overseas expansion posed "serious implications for the survival of open, democratic societies."

Rioters set up barricades on streets to block traffic in Hong Kong on Jan. 1, 2020. (Xinhua)


Long-term ignorance

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that HRW's China-related remarks, including its report, are devoid of facts and paint white as black, and that there is no need to discuss it.

"These two organizations have been viewing China from distorted views for a long time. Their China-related comments always ignore facts with no objectivity," Geng Shuang, spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a routine press conference.

"The state of the human rights situation in China is in the best of times," he noted.

Some China-related topics HRW highlighted in its 2020 report have appeared in previous reports, including criticism over so-called repressions of Uygur people, tightening controls on freedom of expression and the erosion of HKSAR's freedom. Also, HRW has always been enthusiastic about criticizing other countries and regions as well as paying close attention to topics on juridical fairness, racial discrimination, extortion, and confessions by torture.

Its 2020 report has also adopted the same biased way of depicting "old stories" with new arguments. For example, in the Hong Kong chapter, HRW claimed that a large number of protesters acted peacefully, but the police used excessive force by intentionally ignoring the legitimacy of police law enforcement.

This is not the first time HRW pointed its finger at other countries' internal affairs, coming up with reports filled with biased views and false evidence. It ignored cases of police beating African-Americans to death in the US or the infamous abuse of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, according to a letter jointly released in May 2014 by more than 130 scholars, mostly from the US, criticizing the HRW. Singapore's Ministry of Law also refuted the NGO criticism of proposed fake news laws in 2019 in Singapore.

The letter, calling on HRW to close its revolving door to the US government, noted that many members of the HRW are former CIA agents and former US officials. The organization's standard on human rights is in accordance with US diplomatic policies and interests, thus damaging its credibility and independence.

"It also reflects the lack of oversight of NGOs in international law. For example, what criteria does HRW use to evaluate human rights in other countries?" the analyst said, noting that it seriously undermines the joint efforts of other countries in the field of human rights.

A rioter starts a fire on a Hong Kong street corner. Photo: Cui Meng/ GT


Politically driven

Chinese analysts also noted that the funding and membership of the NGO linked it close to the US government, although it claims to be nongovernmental, and its goal is to work for the country's national interests.

A graduate of Yale Law School and Brown University, Roth used to serve as a federal prosecutor, whose perception of China's human rights is embedded with hostility and political bias.

"They've been watching and criticizing other countries based on their understanding and idea of the West's concept of human rights. China has its own human rights concept, formulated on our social, economic and cultural background. But the Chinese concept was often disregarded by those NGOs," another anonymous expert told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Human rights include, first and foremost, the right to life, subsistence and development, the Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary in 2019. When HRW criticized China's Xinjiang policy, it turned a blind eye to the region, which used to fall victim to violent terrorist attacks that has killed innocent people but has been developing into a peaceful and prosperous place.

Its perception of China's human rights status also reflects the hypocrisy and arrogance of provocative Western elites, analysts said.

Though these NGOs claim to be politically neutral, it is impossible for them to completely ignore the political background and stance of Western countries, He Zhipeng, a professor of international human rights and legal education at Jilin University in Northeast China, told the Global Times.

"They usually take Western culture as the basis or ideological fortress, and always stand on the basis of the Western human rights ideology to observe and criticize other countries, while China's socio-economic and cultural background is often unheard in their investigation," he said.

Wang Yabin contributed to the story

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A rioter waves a US national flag in Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong on August 11. Photo: AFP