The 2019 novel coronavirus that has been spreading from Wuhan, China, has developed into a global crisis, another “yellow peril” emanating from China.
The Chinese public is innocent and helpless; the problem is that the nation is ruled by the inhumane Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which stops at nothing to retain its hold on power.
To strengthen its hold, the CCP tells lies, hides facts and ignores human life.
Some say the outbreak was developed by humans.
The CCP initially planned to deceive the world by blaming the outbreak on the consumption of wild animals, but when France revealed that it assisted China in the establishment of the National Biosafety Laboratory in Wuhan, it exposed a possible source of the virus.
The spread of the coronavirus could be a result of attempts to expand China’s biological weapons capability and the opaque operations at the Wuhan lab.
The CCP trumps all and public opinion has no significance.
As the coronavirus began to spread, the CCP wanted to trivialize it and had no intention of handling the outbreak in compliance with the WHO’s infection prevention procedures.
The virus was more contagious than the CCP expected, so the party was forced to reveal the outbreak to the world.
However, Beijing seems to have downplayed the number of cases involved, because the party trumps all, while public opinion is ignored.
Human life has little value for the CCP, while power is everything.
Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang (周先旺) did not give a public briefing on the outbreak until the coronavirus had spread across China and to a number of other nations.
He clearly said that the briefing was delayed because he had to wait for authorization from Beijing.
This process once again proved that, despite the CCP’s claim that it serves the public, it only cares about maintaining its rule.
Since gaining power, the CCP has been China’s master.
Human life has less importance than power, so the CPP regards the death toll as just a number — just like Mao Zedong (毛澤東) looked on the millions of Chinese who died during the decade-long Cultural Revolution.
The party has no feelings and does not believe in acting humanely. It only sees power and benefits, not justice or morality.
Beijing should return to a people-oriented approach and revitalize China through democracy.
Even in the face of this disaster, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has stuck with the CCP’s old ways: spouting empty sound bites, while stressing the importance of “unified leadership, unified command and unified action” within the party.
The implication is that Xi aims to further strengthen China’s one-party rule, making people believe in an authoritarian and incompetent communist government.
However, China has always been unruly under the irrational and inhumane CCP.
The lives of Chinese will never be valued unless the nation focuses on people and implements a system in which the government is for the people.
Otherwise, China’s top-down leadership will continue, keeping the attention of local governments at the top of the hierarchy, while they ignore public opinion and neglect people’s lives.
Chen Chi-nung is principal of Shuili Junior High School in Nantou County.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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