Lies and Deceit Cannot Defeat COVID-19

It is an indisputable fact that China has worked hand in hand with other countries in the world to overcome the current difficulties and contribute wisdom and strength to the global fight against the pandemic. No matter how you dress it up, the ugly behavior of some U.S. politicians who sling mud and unfairly label China are self-defeating lies and deceptive.

The coronavirus pandemic is still spreading around the world. Active international cooperation in the prevention and control of the pandemic is a matter of life and health, and is the responsible course to take with regard to history and to the public. On Sept. 11, the plenary session of the 74th United Nations General Assembly passed a comprehensive omnibus resolution on the coronavirus pandemic by an overwhelming majority of 169 votes. The resolution states that international cooperation, multilateralism, solidarity and mutual assistance are the only way for the world to effectively respond to global crises such as the coronavirus pandemic. The resolution urges member states to promote tolerance and solidarity against racism, xenophobia, hate speech, violence and discrimination, and to refrain from promulgating and implementing any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures that are inconsistent with international law and the Charter of the United Nations. It also calls on members to commit to providing all countries with timely access to high-quality, safe, effective and affordable diagnostic tools, treatment methods, medicines and vaccines.

In stark contrast, some U.S. politicians have marginalized the international community’s common goal of fighting the pandemic, and continued their vicious and absurd performance in which they lie constantly, shouting themselves hoarse about the politicization of the pandemic and giving a nickname to the virus, maliciously fabricating and exaggerating the number of deaths in China, and using every opportunity to make baseless accusations against China in a vain attempt to rewrite the true narrative of the pandemic. However, the clear-cut facts are obvious to all, and in the end, lies and deceit cannot become the truth.

The Chinese Communist Party has united and led the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country to achieve significant strategic results in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, another heroic feat in the history of mankind’s struggle against the disease. Last week, China held a national commendation ceremony for its fight against the coronavirus, and the world revisited China’s historic battle against the pandemic. China, in an open, transparent and responsible manner, has actively fulfilled its international obligations, proactively notifying the World Health Organization, relevant countries and regional organizations of the pandemic situation. It has released information such as the gene sequence as soon as possible, and proactively announced treatment and prevention and control programs. It has shared its experience in prevention control and treatment with all parties without reservation, and provided assistance to the international community to the best of its ability. Supplying and exporting pandemic prevention supplies to more than 200 countries, it has helped to save the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world through practical action. Equally commendable is the orderly resumption of production and life in China, which has become the first major economy to resume growth since the pandemic began.

Justice lies in the hearts of the people. It is an indisputable fact that China works hand in hand with all other countries in the world to overcome the current challenges and contribute wisdom and strength to the global fight against the pandemic. No matter how it is dressed up, the ugly acts of mudslinging and labeling China are self-defeating lies and deceptive. “[T]he scale of the anti-China reaction is disproportionate to the reality of the courageous contributions made by Chinese scientists to our global understanding of this pandemic,” writes Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet. “To blame China for this pandemic is to rewrite the history of Covid-19 and to marginalize the failings of western nations.”

Such sharp criticism is a direct reference to the irresponsible and even extremely dangerous words and deeds of some politicians in the United States who, in their own self-interest, are willing to disregard lives and show contempt for science and spread their “political virus.” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said, “What worries me most is ... a lack of solidarity. Because when solidarity lacks, and when we're divided, that's a very good opportunity for the virus, and that's why it's still spreading.”

Lies and deceit will not defeat the new coronavirus, and shifting the blame can only harm others as well as oneself. The recent cover of Time magazine in the United States is shocking: The daily death data is aggregated into a dazzling number – 200,000 − warning that the number of people dying of the pandemic in the U.S. is heading toward 200,000. It is distressing that the pandemic has caused such tragedy in the United States, the most economically and medically advanced nation in the world. The world has to ask: What kind of numbers will awaken the conscience of some American politicians so that they will choose to respect the facts, respect the science, care about the lives and health of their people and return to the correct path of global solidarity in fighting the pandemic?

In the face of the new coronavirus, which is the common enemy of mankind, we win the battle only through solidarity and cooperation. This is the broad consensus of the international community. Some politicians in the U.S. stand on the opposite side of that community, taking advantage of the pandemic to attack and smear other countries and deliberately undermining the international community’s efforts to unite against the pandemic. As everyone knows, they are determined to move in the opposite direction to deal with the pandemic, to the unbearable detriment of their own country. Once again I urge politicians in the United States to listen to the legitimate voices of the international community, reverse the mistaken practice of spreading rumors and slander, passing the buck and acting in their own interest, and to lift unilateral sanctions that violate international law and the basic norms of international relations and support international solidarity against the pandemic rather than a stumbling block.