Blaming China is Illegimate and Irresponsible
Chunchun Wu^1#^, Xinchuan Du^1#^, Zhi Wang^2#^, Zhe Li^3#^
^1^ State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
^2^ Network and Distributed System Laboratory, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
^3^ School of Automation Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
^#^ These authors contributed equally to this work
* Correspondence: jerrywho@163.com
COVID-19 has recently become a very popular word on account of the spread of the new coronavirus worldwide. China has made tremendous contributions in the fight against the epidemic and all the Chinese medical staff play an important role in this storm. However, some western politicians, represented by U.S. president Donald Trump, censure Chinese government for failure to stop the outbreak of the epidemic and even frequently describe this virus as “Chinese Virus”. Western governments and many state media have made critical remarks about Chinese actions during the epidemic, including developing the virus, the failure of epidemic prevention and the concealment of data. We investigate sharp contradiction between China and Western countries and demonstrate how Trump escaped the reality of his failure. In this paper, we discuss the authenticity and objectivity of the wrong comments, and point out that it is an illegal act of “press defamation” and such behaviors are unprofessional ethics.
Introduction
In December 31st 2019, 27 patients infected with a new unknown coronavirus were reported by Wuhan Municipal Health Commission,which led to the outbreak of epidemic in China1. In the following two months, the epidemic gradually spreaded to the whole world with an increasing rate. While the world were watching how China suppresses the epidemic, most countries are suffering from the new coronavirus themselves2. Hovever, since March 2020, COVID-19 has gradually spread globally, especially in western countries. It was forced to suspend part of its industrial production and most of the services industry. As a result, the unemployment rate rises sharply in the short term3. At the same time some pseudo-libertarian citing “stay-at-home orders”, carried out a huge parade demonstration4 which leads to a series of social phenomena such as rising price, more unemployment, and the spread of disease. This further leads to the decline of the credibility of the national federation. Under this background, the leaders of the U.S. government and the state media carried out a series of remarks and reports against China, with an attempt to turn the domestic and international public opinion against China and divert the pressure of their own political pressure5.
The United State has changed from a bystander into the worst-hit country during the outbreak of the epidemic. Unfortunately, Trump and his government almost did nothing to prevent the crazy spread of the epidemic except to making unimaginable comments on Twitter or in public. In April, the epidemic in China has almost been controlled and Chinese daily life are gradually returning to normal6. This has prompted some western countries to focus on Chinese prevention and controlling measures. It is also inevitable to begin to denigrate China under the leadership of the United States.
Aiming to prove that Chinese positive role in the domestic and international spreading of the epidemic, and point out the unethical and illegimate nature of the reports from western media, here we debate and refute the above irresponsible and illegimate remarks and reports based on the facts.
Discussion
The western media’s accusations against China have formally constituted press defamation. Based on “The Law Dictionary”, definition of defamation is that “ tends so to harm the reputation of another as to lower him in the estimation of the community or to deter the third person from associating or dealing with him7 ”. To be defamatory, a statement must be an assertion of fact rather than mere opinion and capable of being proven false. In addition to being false, the statement, to be defamatory, must identify its victim by naming or reasonably implicating the person allegedly defamed.
Western governments and foreign media criticism focused on the following aspects, the first is rumoring the virus is from Wuhan Institute of Virology. The second is claiming China of misrepresenting the epidemic data. The third is accusing that China collude with WHO and the last is accusing China in treating patients with restricting the personal freedom. However, it is not difficult to find that there is no multimedia evidence and quotes in these reports, which are developed in a speculative way and completed in an assertive way. This kinds of baseless assertion constitutes a defamatory fact. So we can say that some of the blames for Chinese responses are illegimate.
We need to recognize the defective or inadequate in our response to the epidemic. But we think it is irresponsible for the western governments and media giving one-sided reports. During the epidemic, we tried our best to screen the virus, cure the patients, prevent and control the virus spread8. People from all walks of life have contributed their efforts during the epidemic. The government’s material rationing and manpower mobilization are the foundations on which China can weather the epidemic9. The military has deployed security forces to build hospitals on the frontline10. Academics are working around the clock on virus research and vaccine development11. The cooperation of overseas Chinese and communities across the country has become the core force in the fight against the epidemic. However, the western government media selectively ignore it, magnify the mistakes in the work and carry out one-sided and tendentious reports. So we can say that some of the blames for Chinese responses are irresponsible.
WHO will lead an objective investigation into the origins of COVID-19 from a responsible perspective. And this movement is not intended to discriminate against the origins or to highlight victimhood. At the same time, the United States is not satisfied with the WHO’s action, and has accused China of being responsible for it without any basis and refused to conduct an objective investigation. The World Health Organization subsequently gave a positive assessment of Chinese efforts on combating with COVID-19. American president threatened the WHO with a withdrawal of funding at a news conference. The series of actions conducted by the US President are just to protect the American political interests, cover up the internal contradictions and point the finger at China to gain the support from the voters and a reason to crack down on China. Most of the USA President’s statements are self-contradictory and inconsistent. Stigmatizing China would be an effective way to cover up the American government’s failings, judging from the racial discrimination and repression of protesters during the epidemic in the United States in recent days.
Results
The claim that the COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China, is clearly a political point raised by Trump to continue to implement the policy of suppressing China and cover up his failure to stop the spread of the epidemic in the United States. First, the United States has continued to curb the development of Chinese enterprises through trade wars in recent years. In 2019, Some American enterprises have stopped supplying important chips to Chinese electronics companies. Recently, Huawei technologies co., LTD has been seeking a solution due to the US government’s latest semiconductor restrictions12. These contradiction means that the U.S. has always been hostile to China. Therefore, Trump and Pompeo are very happy to make comments that are not good for China. Second, when China started the virus identification work in January 25th, America government did not seem to increase the level of public health emergency response. At the end of January, the U.S. reported its first person-to-person transmission case. The next day, it closed its borders to travelers from China, which seemed to be already good enough. But Americans were still not alert and did not wear masks to participate in gathering activities13.
After the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, Trump began describing the new coronavirus as “Chinese virus” on Twitter and in public. It was oblivious that when the epidemic in the United States was not serious, the United States had actively evaluated China and WHO’s response to the epidemic for quite a long time. At the same time, they understated the domestic epidemic in the United States. However, as the epidemic in the United States continued to deteriorate, the attitude of the senior US government took a sharp turn, and began to vigorously attack China and WHO, while bragging about its “credit”. Even when the American cases are quite serious at a rate of 20,000 per day, the American government till tries to divert attention to China instead of seeking solutions through cooperation14. Judging from a series of reports and the evaluation of American politicians by various media, the United States blames China as a political means to cover up Trump’s failures. So it’s illegimate and irresponsible to blame China for no reason.
From the existing objective facts, we strongly oppose the stigmatization and accusations against China. This is a victimization theory, which is illegal and unreasonable. Based on the above explanation, we can clearly find that the conspiracy of western governments and media, as well as their illegimate and irresponsible behavior in critical reporting against China, it’s a serious insult to professional ethics.
References
2 20200319CGTN Trump tries to score political points by blaming China for COVID-19.
4 https://new.qq.com/omn/20200421/20200421A0FL8300.html.
5 http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2020-05/06/c_1125948741.htm.
6 20200321CGTN Is China to blame for the COVID-19 pandemic.
7 https://www.thefire.org/first-amendment-library/freedom-of-the-press/defamation-press/.
8 https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202004/21/WS5e9e45afa310c00b73c786ed.html
10 https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2020-02-02/doc-iimxxste8249917.shtml.
11 http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202003/22/t20200322_34537673.shtml.
12 20200519CNDAILY Huawei seeks solution to new US restrictions.
13 20200519ChinaDaily Courage and sanity of speaking up against hate speech targeted at China.
14 https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=252764.
Methods:
Currently, there are some further research results on new coronavirus published by the Lancet. We analyze the data in the study and relevant reports in foreign media and demonstrate that the United States use the epidemic to attack China deliberately.