AT a time when the countries must put in their efforts and resources together to meet the biggest ever challenge posed to humanity by contagious and deadly Coronavirus, it is really unfortunate that some countries have started a totally unjustified and baseless smear campaign against China for the way it handled the pandemic. Australia and Germany are the latest ones to join this club, ignoring totally what the Chinese leadership and people did and sacrificed to combat the contagion.
The criticism of these countries in fact is nothing but sheer desperation out of their failure to control the rising infections and deaths due to the virus in their own regions. The fact is that when the outbreak was first discovered, China did its utmost to implement epidemic prevention, control and rescue measures, maximizing the protection of people’s lives and health by completely locking down Wuhan city for seventy-six days. Then, China also notified the WHO and relevant countries in a timely manner, proactively promoted international cooperation and adopted measures to reduce the spread of the epidemic beyond its border. The country treated foreigners in China with kindness, demonstrating its responsibility. After controlling the virus to a great deal including in Wuhan which has now been opened, the Chinese leadership is now extending assistance to other countries to meet this challenge. In our view, China’s determination, measures and effectiveness have been a proactive response to the epidemic which has also been hailed by the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who said that China deserves our gratitude and respect for taking extraordinary measures to curb the spread of the virus. US President Donald Trump himself is on record of praising the Chinese Leadership on the matter. His change of heart is now understandable. He is pointing fingers on Beijing to avoid public backlash after failing to protect his people from the contagion. To be honest, it is no time to put the burden of your own failure on others. These western countries must accept their failure as well as responsibility. Whilst putting a stop to the smear campaign against China, all the countries must join their hands to find a cure to this pandemic at the earliest to save the precious lives.
