Zhao Lijian, spokesman and deputy director general of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Photo: Kyodo)
By Stas Margaronis
China’s Ambassador to the United States is urging that the United States and China set aside their differences and work together to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, as the Ambassador appeals for cooperation:
- Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is re-tweeting false reports blaming the United States for having spread the virus to China, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
- The Ambassador cites the contribution of Chinese manufacturers Huawei, which has provided medical supplies to the United States, but has also been cited by the United States for selling components that could be used for hacking mobile phones.
In an opinion piece that appeared in the New York Times on April 5th, Ambassador Cui Tiankai, wrote:
“At a time when solidarity is essential, we need to keep cool heads and clearly say “no” to the folly of fanning racism and xenophobia, and to scapegoating other countries or races. Such acrimony will not only undercut cooperation between our nations, but also sow seeds of suspicion and confrontation that could put our peoples — and even the world — in grave danger from this runaway virus and the economic fallout it is causing.
As the two biggest economies in the world, China and the United States need to lead international efforts in collaborative research into treatments and vaccines, and explore the sharing of pharmaceutical technologies among nations. We need to help countries with underdeveloped medical systems and contribute to better global health governance.”[1]
Ambassador Cui goes on to cite instances where China has provided medical information and supplies to the United States to fight the Covid-19 pandemic:
“China has been providing updates about the disease in a responsible manner, including setting up an online Covid-19 knowledge center that’s available to all countries. Chinese and American health authorities and experts have stayed in close communication to share knowledge and experience.
China is doing whatever it can to support the United States and other countries in need; New York, America’s epicenter of the pandemic, is one of the biggest destinations of China’s assistance. We are facilitating the U.S. government’s purchase of personal protective equipment made in China. Indeed, factories are operating in full swing to fulfill the orders of medical supplies from New York State and other parts of America. China’s provincial and city governments are rushing to help their sister states and cities in America too. And donations are pouring in from the country’s business sector….
In total, Chinese companies have donated 1.5 million masks, 200,000 test kits, 180,000 gloves and many other medical supplies to the United States…. Chinese communities in America are also showing their support with generous financial and material donations to their local hospitals and neighborhoods. In the fight against the virus, we stand together with the people of New York and America.”
At the same time, as Ambassador Cui asks for better cooperation between the United States and China, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is reportedly mounting a massive fake news campaign alleging that the United States is responsible for bringing the Covid-19 virus to China.
On April 4th, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on how China is trying to shift blame for the origin of the Covid-19 virus by repeating unsubstantiated reports insisting the origin of the virus began in the United States:
“By now, the early history of Covid-19 is well known, if not clear in its details. The virus was first detected somewhere around Wuhan , in Hubei province, then appears to have entered the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, from where it infected many others. Doctors in Wuhan first noticed the novel coronavirus in December and began exchanging urgent warnings. Local government authorities set out to silence them; some were detained and made to sign documents admitting wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Wuhan officials went about business as usual, which included a disastrous Lunar New Year banquet attended by about 40,000 families. Soon, many more thousands around Wuhan were infected, with hundreds dead or dying, including ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, who had been punished for trying to raise the alarm.
Realizing it was in the firing line not just for running the nation that had unleashed the deadly virus on the world but also for ignoring, covering up and denying its spread, China’s Communist Party moved into damage-control mode. This included suggesting it was the United States that was responsible for the virus.”[2]
The SCMP report cites the conduct of Zhao Lijian, spokesman and deputy director general of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as playing a pivotal role in tweeting a fabricated report that the United States was the origin of the Covid-19 virus:
“On March 4, the People’s Daily reprint of this article was used as the basis for a piece published on conspiracy website GlobalResearch.ca, titled “China’s Coronavirus: A Shocking Update. Did The Virus Originate in the U.S.?”
It was the first of two articles on the website that would lead to Zhao’s tweet nine days later suggesting the US Army had brought the virus to Wuhan.”
The SCMP report goes on to say:
“On the morning of March 13, Zhao tweeted links to the Global Research articles: “This article is very much important to each and every one of us. Please read and retweet it. COVID-19: Further Evidence that the Virus Originated in the U.S.. It would be useful to read this prior article for background……Just take a few minutes to read one more article. This is so astonishing that it changed many things I used to believe in. Please retweet to let more people know about it. …”[3]
By late afternoon, the South China Morning Post reported:
“ Zhao Lijian sent out five consecutive tweets questioning the U.S…… viewed more than 4.7 million times on Weibo. Twelve hours later, The New York Times reported it had been viewed more than 160 million times.”[4]
Ambassador Cui’s opinion piece also cited the Chinese company Huawei for its generosity in providing medical equipment to United States. However, he does not mention that Huawei has been cited by the United States as posing a security risk because components offered to U.S. companies for next generation 5G mobile networks can be hacked.
“Huawei has donated tens of thousands of personal protective items — including masks, gloves and goggles — to New York and Washington, D.C,” the Ambassador noted.
According to a BBC report the threat Huawei components pose is a possibility, but not a certainty:
“Many countries are preparing to move from 4G to more advanced 5G mobile networks. Download speeds 10 times faster than today will radically change how we work, communicate and stream videos.
In principle, controlling the tech at the heart of these networks could give Huawei the capacity to spy or disrupt communications during any future dispute. This is important, as more things – from self-driving cars to fridges, baby monitors and fire alarms become connected to the internet.
The concern is that state-sponsored hackers could use these devices, which often have weaker security features, as a back door into strategically vital networks. For instance, this could make it possible to shut down a rivals power stations.”[5]
So, in the spirit of cooperation, perhaps Ambassador Cui might have left Huawei out of the plea for more cooperation.
Conclusion
The United States and China must find ways to work closer together not just to fight the current pandemic but also to develop strategies for economic cooperation that can help both countries and the world re-start their economies after the pandemic restrictions are lifted.
However, both sides need to find a way to reduce tensions. President Trump needs to lift trade sanctions against China and stop making anti-Chinese statements that feed racist responses against Chinese people at home and abroad.
Meanwhile, China must refrain from false accusations that the United States is the origin of the virus when its own scientists have said the origins lay in the Wuhan area.
Ambassador Cui’s article represents a more positive policy that is cautiously being enunciated by China’s President Xi: Americans should take this seriously.
However, both countries need to reduce the hostilities if a reconciliation is to work.
Both China and the United States should pay heed to Benjamin Franklin’s warning to the signers of the Declaration of Independence as to why working together is so important:
“We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/opinion/coronavirus-china-us.html
[2] https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3078417/how-chinas-fake-news-machine-rewriting-history?utm_medium=email&utm_source=mailchimp&utm_campaign=enlz-china_coronavirus&utm_content=20200405&MCUID=e99e461d28&MCCampaignID=c94bd32891&MCAccountID=3775521f5f542047246d9c827&tc=8
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid