The Trump administration may have back tracked on name calling but if the latest developments in the USA is anything to go by, the US government is in no mood to let China off the hook easily. 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.
Republican Senator Rick Scott has called for a congressional investigation into the WHO’s role in shielding China as he suggests that the Trump administration should cut off the organisation’s funding for helping China cover up the pandemic. “The mission of the WHO is to get public health information to the world so every country can make the best decisions to keep their citizens safe. When it comes to coronavirus, the WHO failed,” said Rick Scott. He added, “We know Communist China is lying about how many cases and deaths they have, what they knew and when they knew it — and the WHO never bothered to investigate further. Their inaction cost lives.”
It seems that the US government is preparing for all-round diplomatic offensive that seeks to implicit China and the WHO for creating a pandemic at a time when over 150 countries are fighting the deadly Wuhan virus. According to a US Intelligence Community report to the White House, China has underreported both total cases and fatalities suffered from the Wuhan virus. According to the officials, the thrust of the report is that China has intentionally concealed the extent of the Wuhan virus. The report further concludes that the numbers reported by China are fake.
Till date, China has reported 82,394 cases of the virus and 3,300 fatalities. Many have casted doubt on China’s numbers at a time when the US with 216,721, Italy with 110,574 and Spain with 104,118 all lead China despite the fact that the virus originated in Wuhan’s wet markets and due to the ignorance of the WHO and Chinese government, the virus was successfully exported to the world.
President Trump also questioned China’s numbers as he said, “Their numbers seem to be a little bit on the light side, and I’m being nice when I say that,” at a daily coronavirus briefing at the White House. Vice President Mike Pence concurred with Trump as he said, “The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming.” He added that, “What appears evident now is that long before the world learned in December that China was dealing with this, and maybe as much as a month earlier than that, that the outbreak was real in China.”
Despite the best efforts of the WHO to shield China, international pressure has resulted in cracks between the WHO and China. The WHO in a rare admission said that it was closely following the development of the coronavirus in the country as it is striving to learn how Taiwan has successfully battled the virus — which contradicts its earlier stance of not considering Taiwan as a separate country.
China on its part too, revealed new 1,541 cases of the Wuhan virus which it was hiding till date. Despite the fact that the WHO mandated to include the asymptomatic positive coronavirus patients in the virus’ tally, China continued to exclude such patients. In a rare admission the Chinese government has now finally relented. However, Hong Kong based South China Morning Post reveals that the total cases of asymptomatic patients in China is well over 43,000.
Over the past few weeks, there is a growing chorus among the Republican lawmakers to make China pay for its sins. Another Republican Senator from Nebraska said, “The claim that the United States has more coronavirus deaths than China is false.” He added, “Without commenting on any classified information, this much is painfully obvious: The Chinese Communist Party has lied, is lying, and will continue to lie about coronavirus to protect the regime.”
Republican Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri recently called for an international investigation into China’s deadly cover-up. Republican Representative Elise Stefanik from New York echoed Hawley’s sentiments and introduced companion resolutions calling on Congress to open the said investigation. Another Republican House Representative Jim Banks backed the calls for making China pay for the cost incurred by the USA in fighting the pandemic.
“Since day one, the Chinese Communist Party intentionally lied to the world about the origin of this pandemic. The CCP was aware of the reality of the virus as early as December but ordered laboratories to destroy samples and forced doctors to keep silent,” said Hawley. He further added, “It is time for an international investigation into the role their cover-up played in the spread of this devastating pandemic. The CCP must be held to account for what the world is now suffering.”
The recent developments in the USA, don’t bode well for China and the WHO as the Trump administration is in a mood to make them pay for their sins which has caused thousands of death and effectively slid the world economy into a state of recession.
