Commentary by Laurence Brahm*
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is a worldwide pandemic requiring collaboration across nations regardless of ideology, political system or religiosity. This is the time for global unity against a pandemic attack, no different than if all the nations of the world had to unite to fight an attack from outer space aliens. As science fiction as it sounds, the novel coronavirus global pandemic is something right out of science fiction and needs to be met head on with global cooperation, the sharing of information, science and experience to fight a common enemy. This is not the time to be fighting among ourselves.
Unfortunately, this has not been the case. As the novel coronavirus erupted in China in mid-winter, The Wall Street Journal wrote this headline on February 2: “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia.” This is a 19th century insult to China adopted during the Opium Wars, when a consortium of Western nations became the biggest drug dealers in world history forcing their drugs on China through gunboat diplomacy. In Bruce Lee’s classic movie Fist of Fury he takes down a sheet of paper with these words written by colonialist occupiers in China, and makes them kneel down and eat their own words. Maybe it is time for some others to eat their words as well.
‘Flagrant insult’
By any standard of any nation this kind of “journalistic” bashing represents a flagrant insult not only to China, but also to humanity as a whole now battling this novel coronavirus together. It also exposes a deep undercurrent of colonial, racist mentality that has not been successfully erased by two world wars and years of worldwide equal rights and social consciousness movements.
The fact that a Manifest Destiny religiosity and racist prerogative still exists at the highest echelons of the American elite, is frightening at a time when everyone needs to work together and overcome social, racial and national prejudices. We are facing new unprecedented medical challenges and questions that science is grappling and coming to terms with against a race for time. We need rational, unbiased and immediate information, shared among us equally. This is the role that all global media must step up to.
China has been on the front line battling the novel coronavirus spread for the interest of not only its own people, but to prevent the spread globally. China has the most accumulated practical experience in battling, containing and controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus. Rather than belittling China in the politicized Western media, it is time to de-politicize and try to report what has been done in China to beat the novel coronavirus and see how these experiences can extrapolated and scientifically adapted to the reality and conditions in other countries as appropriate to their own social constructs and resource capabilities.
Trump’s ‘China Virus’
The most recent act of politicizing the novel coronavirus occurred when Trump repeatedly labeled it the “China Virus.” While the novel coronavirus spread in China, there is scientific research taking place now to understand the actual origin of the virus, which may have been somewhere else. China’s Foreign Ministry and ambassador to the United States have both refuted a spectrum of conspiracy speculations to simply state that the deciphering of the novel coronavirus origin must be left to the scientific community to use science to determine. Nevertheless, this has not stopped Trump’s labeling.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated affirmatively that the labeling of any epidemic in association with any nation or human being is unscientific and irrational. Well, from observing the Trump administration on issues such a global warming, climate change and the rise of global natural disasters, we can ascertain one thing for sure. Trump and his administration do not believe in science.
This novel coronavirus crisis is not about politics. It is not about science fiction. It’s about hard science. It is time for all nations and international media to de-politicize issues around the novel coronavirus, open up and share information and practical experience. COVID-19 knows no borders, nations, political parties, or religious communities. It is a threat to us all and we need to band together as humanity in the interest of humanity and fight this together as if it were an alien invasion threatening the lives of everyone on this planet.
*Laurence Brahm is a senior international fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, founding director of the Himalayan Consensus and co-chair of the Silk-Spice Road Dialogues.
The Macau Post Daily made minor adjustments to the text and added the two subheadings.
Courtesy China Daily
