2019-nCoV outbreak mirrors morality of international community
By Zhong Sheng
The battle against the
2019 novel coronavirus is a trial of strength between human beings and virus.
The Chinese government and Chinese people are rushing to the front line, composing
a song of praise for the value of life.
The battle is also a
test for morality and sense of justice. The international society, with its
righteous strength, is joining the battle with China to contain the epidemic,
illustrating “a friend in need is a friend indeed” with concrete actions and
playing a symphony of the community with a shared future for mankind.
However, certain
western country, with exaggerated response, has crossed the bottom line of
morality and started the daydreaming of kicking China down in the tribulation
to seek their own private profits.
World Health
Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday,
February 3, at the 146th session of the WHO Executive Board meeting that
protection is necessary, but there’s no need to overreact.
WHO is not
recommending measures that “unnecessarily interfere with travel and commerce”,
the WHO chief said, calling on all countries to implement decisions that are
“evidence-based and consistent”.
He explained from a
professional perspective that what should be done and what shouldn’t, telling
people not to panic.
Deputies from dozens
of countries to the meeting hailed that China’s prevention and control measures
have set an example, saying they are willing to join the battle with the
Chinese people.
There’s no doubt that
the spreading of panic is more horrible than the spreading of virus, and only
confidence is the way out.
According to media
reports, the A/H1N1 swine flu that started in the U.S. in 2009 caused over 1.63
million infection cases and led to 284,500 deaths, leaving a fatality rate of
17.4 percent. Thanks to the unremitted efforts made by China, the fatality rate
of the novel coronavirus has been restricted at around 2.1 percent in the
country, much lower than usual. Starting from Feb. 1, the number of cured cases
has outrun that of the death cases, which indicates that the epidemic is
totally controllable.
However, just after
WHO said there’s no reason to unnecessarily interfere with international travel
and said it doesn’t recommend and actually opposes any restrictions for travel
or other measures against China, the U.S. took the initiative to announce a
highest-level warning on not to travel to China, banning U.S. citizens from
going to China, as well as the entry into the U.S. by any foreign national who
has traveled to China in the past 14 days.
The U.S. was the first
to evacuate personnel from its consulate in Wuhan, the first to suggest partial
withdrawal of its embassy staff, and the first to impose a travel ban on
Chinese travelers.
The U.S. practices are
obviously in lack of science- and fact-based foundation, and even officials
from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security believe that the epidemic has
generally low risk for U.S. citizens.
Relevant U.S. experts
said that the U.S. is turning from overconfidence to fear and overreaction,
pointing out such decision is not backed by science, and they suggest early
cancellation.
The epidemic is a
public enemy of the world, in which sympathy and justice shall never be absent.
However, when the international community is joining hands to combat the virus,
some U.S. politicians are busy making private political gains. What they have
done has crossed the bottom line of human civilization.
U.S. Secretary of
Commerce Wilbur Ross said publicly that the coronavirus outbreak in China will
help accelerate the return of jobs to America, and U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo brazenly made mischief between China and its neighboring
countries in name of the novel coronavirus outbreak during his trip to Central
Asia in recent days. What’s more, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton has been repeatedly
slandering China, clamoring for a ban on the country and suggesting all
Americans escape from the country.
Such ridiculous
remarks by U.S. politicians are both ugly and ignorant. Many Americans have
said bluntly on the Internet that Cotton’s remarks are even more dangerous than
the novel coronavirus.
Whether a country
should lend a hand or give a stab in the back in the face of epidemic is a
question about the value of justice. It’s believed that the power of
understanding, sympathy, support and unity will always be the mainstream as
conscience and justice will always be there.
Countries
and international organizations are actively preparing and sending medical
supplies to China, and many friendly people are also supporting China’s efforts
in various ways. The supports for China and Wuhan come from all over the world,
a beautiful moment in the human society where the destiny of each party is closely
knitted. Both
material and moral supports carry the positive energy in helping the world get
through the current difficulties.
In the face of
epidemic, there will always be a ruler that measures morality of international
community.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen
name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
A 25-year-old woman surnamed Li, accompanied
by medics, walks out of the isolation ward of People’s Hospital of Bozhou, east
China’s Anhui Province at 9:00 am, Jan. 29, 2020. She is the first cured
patient of the novel coronavirus in Bozhou and among the first batch in Anhui.
(Photo by Zhang Yanlin from People’s Daily Online)
2019-nCoV outbreak mirrors morality of international community
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