The communist state of China long before the advent of Wuhan virus was vying for the top superpower country slot in the world. Before 2000, the U.S. was at the helm of global trade, as over 80% of countries traded with the U.S. more than any other country. But by 2018, the number had dropped sharply to just 30%, as China swiftly took the top position in 128 of 190 countries. Between imports and exports, China is involved in $4.6 trillion worth of trade worldwide. As a direct co-relation of such massive trade relations, countries usually do not upset China so as to not invite its wrath. But it seems like that narrative is changing now with countries coming all out and condemning China for kicking off a major world catastrophe.
Despite having a positive trade balance of over $57 Billion with China–Australia has hit out at China. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday urged the WHO and the UN to act against China’s wet markets, like the one where the deadly coronavirus is thought to have originated, as they pose “great risks” to the health and wellbeing of the rest of the world.
The reason for Morrison’s outburst is evident as China ransacked the down-under country of Australia in the wake of the rising Wuhan Virus cases. Several reports have emerged that in January and February when the COVID-19 cases were at its peak in Mainland China, Xi Jinping through his proxies in Australia and several other countries hoarded billions of medical equipment.
The United States of America has been grappling with the increasing menace of Wuhan virus cases and despite all the chaos back home, the Trump government has been upping the ante against China. China made it personal for President Trump when it decided to shirk responsibility and instead pin the blame of the virus on the USA.
US government is preparing for an all-round diplomatic offensive that seeks to implicit China and the WHO for creating a pandemic. According to a classified report to the White House, the US Intelligence Community has concluded that China has concealed the outbreak of the Wuhan virus. The WHO’s role in shielding the Chinese government has also not gone unnoticed as Florida Senator Rick Scott has called for a Congressional investigation into the World Health Organization. The Trump administration is further monitoring a civilian-led effort to hold the CCP monetarily accountable for the Wuhan virus.
NEW: Senior White House officials and some of Trump's top out-of-gov advisers have been briefed on and are monitoring private efforts to hold the Chinese Communist Party financially accountable for coronavirus fallout. Read it here…https://t.co/MbvIjFMZzv
— Christian Datoc (@TocRadio) March 25, 2020
One of the biggest casualties of the Coronavirus Pandemic has been the United Kingdom (UK) with 38,168 confirmed cases having already been recorded in the Constitutional Monarchy which includes high profile cases such as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles.
As a matter of fact, the Boris Johnson government is so livid with China that the British Prime Minister is even considering going back on his decision to allow the Chinese tech major Huawei to develop the 5G network in the country. UK government officials have now hit out at Beijing over hiding crucial information and also accused China of downplaying the number of Coronavirus cases “by a factor of 15 to 40 times.”
The island nation of Japan has become more direct in its criticism of both the WHO and China. The Japanese Deputy PM Taro Aso has even gone on to say that the World Health Organisation might have to change its name to “Chinese Health Organisation”, during a speech in Japanese Parliament on Thursday wherein he lent support to a petition terming Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus unfit for the role of the WHO chief.
https://twitter.com/Iyervval/status/1244314315588435969
Japan’s infuriation towards China is aggravated by the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. The country was keen on ensuring that the multi-sports event does not get postponed.
Japan is one of the top countries where China exports the most goods. To be precise, China exports $148 billion worth of goods to Japan and despite having such big numbers stacked against it, the Japanese are not taking the foot off the pedal and attacking China much like the rest of the world.
One of the closest country to Mainland China–Taiwan is perhaps the only country which has successfully defeated the Wuhan virus despite the odds stacked against the nation thanks to the complete non-cooperation of the WHO. While the WHO was busy playing Beijing’s political games, Taiwan has quietly earned legitimacy across the world which will act as a slap on the Chinese Communist Party’s ‘One China Policy’.
Recently, Taiwan donated 5.6 million masks to the European Union to help fight the Wuhan virus. The President of the European Commission which is the European Union’s executive arm, Ursula von der Leyen took to Twitter to praise and thank Taiwan.
The European Union thanks Taiwan for its donation of 5.6 million masks to help fight the #coronavirus. We really appreciate this gesture of solidarity. This global virus outbreak requires international solidarity & cooperation. Acts like this show that we are #StrongerTogether.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 1, 2020
Taiwan’s praise by a top European Union official is significant. The EU has often titled towards Beijing with Italy being one of the first countries to participate in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Rarely does the 27-bloc EU supports or appreciates Taiwan. Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to praise Taiwan follows move by the EU’s top diplomat to criticize China of practicing the “politics of generosity” in the wake of China’s selective donations to European countries.
China’s abject failure to contain the virus and then collude with the WHO to blind the world about the impending disaster has riled up the EU. The Wuhan virus pandemic has started the shift in narrative and EU’s comment is being seen in a similar light.
Courtesy the medical-kits fiasco–Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey, The Philippines, and Ukraine are some of the many countries that have returned the faulty test kits of China in bulk numbers. Spain had found out that 6,40,000 testing kits it bought from China did not work accurately, out of which 58,000 had already been returned. Madrid stopped using the rapid COVID-19 test kit made by the Chinese company immediately and switched back to the PCR test, which takes up to four hours for a diagnosis, while rapid tests take between 10 to 15 minutes.
In the Czech Republic, up to 80 percent of the 300,000 rapid Wuhan virus test kits ordered from China were found faulty and not adequately working. The test kits, worth 54 million korunas (€1.83 million), showed false positive as well as negative results.
All these countries are possibly looking to take stringent steps against China after the pandemic abates. After the Corona pandemic is over, China is bound to face harsh new realities of the world order. The immediate social, political, and economic consequences of the pandemic will be with us for at least the next two years and that is the best-case scenario. Countries will be skeptical and will not be trusting the reckless Xi Jinping regime even an iota. Once the dust settles and we sit down to gauge the losses, the invoice-receipts should all be made in the name of the People Republic of China, for they have wreaked havoc on the 7 billion population of the realm.
