Blame game in COVID-19 nothing but self-deception: CPPCC members on U.S. anti-China bills

By Yang Qiaochu, People's Daily

Multiple anti-China bills on COVID-19 were recently proposed by U.S. congresspersons. However, the U.S. accusation is neither evidence-based nor has legal basis, said Chinese political advisors, suggesting that the members of U.S. Congress urge the White House to take more effective control measures and reinforce international cooperation.

The Chinese political advisors made the remarks on the sideline of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

“The U.S. accusation is totally groundless,” said Huang Luqi, a member of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC, and president of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences.

The Chinese government has launched the most comprehensive, strict and thorough prevention and control measures immediately after the outbreak of the disease, he said.

It was found by the Northeast University in the U.S. that the strains of the novel coronavirus first entering New York were not from China, Huang introduced, citing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Most scholars in the U.S. are objective on the origin of the virus, and the American politicians accusing China are just trying to shift the blames to China to win more votes and stabilize the stock market, Huang told People’s Daily.

“The U.S. request for China to compensate for the COVID-19 pandemic has no legal basis,” said Zhu Zhengfu, a member of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC.

“China’s pandemic practices have never violated any international law, and the so-called investigation by the U.S. is based on the presumption of guilt,” said Zhu, who’s also the vice chairman of All China Lawyers Association.

China has always been open, transparent and responsible in its pandemic response, Zhu noted, saying the country has timely released information and reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), taken the most comprehensive, strict and thorough measures, and fully fulfilled the responsibilities and obligations in the International Health Regulations.

He said the so-called U.S. lawsuits are nothing short for frivolous litigation, which not only lack evidence, but also defy the basic theory of the law.

“We offer assistance with no political strings attached, but a small number of U.S. congresspersons are accusing us of politicizing the disease. It exactly exposed their evil intentions,” said Kong Quan, vice-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC.

Despite of the global efforts to fight the disease, a small number of U.S. politicians are opposing international exchanges and dialogues, slandering other countries’ achievements in pandemic response, and even accused and stigmatized the WHO which played a vital role in coordinating and guiding global efforts, Kong said, adding that they have seriously hindered the progress of global pandemic containment.

“They should urge the U.S. government to adopt more effective and decisive measures to curb the spread of the virus, and fulfill its responsibilities as a major country with concrete actions in global cooperation and efforts against the pandemic,” Kong told People’s Daily.

There are much more Americans than Chinese in the WHO staff and executive boards, noted Li Baodong, a member of the Standing Committee of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC, refuting the claims of certain U.S. Senators that China was controlling the UN health organ.

Li, who’s also a vice-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC, believes the U.S. fallacies aim at diverting public attention. The WHO has 180 American staff, but only 35 come from China. What’s more, among the 21 executives in the WHO leadership, 11 come from the U.S., European Union, Canada and Australia, while only one is Chinese. The WHO has established a work team for COVID-19 response, and over 30 members of the team are American. It is joined by officials dispatched by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The Americans are commanding the WHO, forcing the latter to accept its orders, and threaten to withdraw funding if the WHO doesn’t follow,” Li said. The country manipulating international organizations with money and threats is exactly the U.S. itself, Li added.

“China was the first to report the disease, but it doesn’t mean the virus originated in the country,”said Hu Yu, a member of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC and president of the Union Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan.

Hu introduced that the P4 lab, jointly built by China and France, is designed to study viruses, rather than creating them.

Virus tracing is a serious scientific issue, the evidencing of which must be done by medical experts and scientists. The Lancet recently published a joint statement by 27 leading medical experts from eight countries, indicating that scientists have published and analyzed genomes of SARS-CoV-2, and they overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife.

Liu Hongcai, vice-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC, told People’s Daily that the pandemic is a natural disaster, in which China and the U.S. are both victims. The virus has nothing to do with political systems or ideologies, he said.

As a developing country with a population of 1.4 billion, China has achieved major strategic progress in pandemic response. Such progress could not have been made without the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, or the solidarity of the country. China’s practices have been supported by the whole nation, as well as foreign governments, political parties and dignitaries.

Liu suggested U.S. politicians to stop self-deception, saying the blame game neither solves problem nor saves lives. “Doing more to enhance cooperation with global countries, including China, is the right way to defeat the virus,” he said.