Chinese government data obtained by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post show that the first known case of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, can be traced back to Nov. 17 last year, and that at least 381 people had caught the disease by Jan. 1, which does not match officially released figures.
These revelations prove that accusations that Chinese authorities concealed the outbreak are not baseless.
After the outbreak in Wuhan, COVID-19 quickly spread across China. When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) realized that it could no longer conceal the disease, it decided to seal off Wuhan and the whole of Hubei Province. About 5 million residents reportedly left the city when they heard about the outbreak, and this is the main factor that caused the virus to spread within China.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the WHO, who seem to have been bought off and co-opted by China, repeatedly lauded the measures Beijing took to contain the outbreak, saying that it was not serious and that people should not worry.
Taking the WHO at its word, numerous countries did not take necessary preventive measures. This allowed the disease to spread and become a global pandemic.
The world has been thrown into panic, with factories, shops and markets closed down. Work and school have been suspended in many parts of the world.
Towns and cities have been closed off, and many countries have sealed their borders. The COVID-19 outbreak has grown into one of the worst disasters the world has ever seen.
Shockingly, the CCP, for unspoken political motives, concealed the truth about the outbreak, while the WHO prioritized keeping the world in the dark.
Now that the outbreak has evolved into such a huge disaster, they are trying to push the blame onto others. China has gone so far as to use spurious arguments to falsely claim that the virus originated from the US.
“It might be US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) tweeted, referring to a US military team’s participation at the Military World Games in Wuhan in October last year.
It is extraordinary that a government official could spread rumors based on such a far-fetched idea.
Even more ridiculously, China has brazenly boasted that it delayed the virus’ spread to Europe and the US by keeping it in check for three months. It expects everyone to be grateful for this so-called contribution.
If the CCP is good at anything, it is reversing cause and effect, and turning the truth on its head.
Anyone who is right in the head, including CCP leaders, knows that such lies are taken as jokes outside of China. However, within China, where information is strictly controlled, it is excellent propaganda material for brainwashing the masses.
Ever since the CCP took power in 1949, it has habitually used such means to fool the people and “preserve stability.” Shame on the CCP.
The CCP has targeted Taiwan with lies and deceit for the past seven decades. Bearing in mind the effects of the SARS epidemic 17 years ago, as soon as President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) government heard about the outbreak in Wuhan, it jumped to attention and took pre-emptive action.
Thanks in part to cooperation between the ruling and opposition parties, Taiwan has successfully held off the coronavirus’ first assault. This achievement has won it praise as a model for the whole world to follow.
Taiwanese authorities have been open and transparent about everything. Under its democratic system, the public has been working together under adversity, standing hand in hand against the epidemic. It is in stark contrast with the CCP’s concealment and trickery, followed by clumsy lockdowns, which can lead to scenes of resentment and anger.
As they suffer the onslaught of COVID-19, nations cannot fail to have seen how much better Taiwan’s democracy is than the CCP’s dictatorship. The CCP’s habitual practice of trying to foist its deceitful ideas on everyone else has been thoroughly revealed to the international community during this crisis.
The gap between the national images of Taiwan and China is now wider than ever.
Hopefully the Democratic Progressive Party government can make good use of this situation to put Taiwan’s foreign relations on a firmer footing.
Jhang Shih-hsien is former head of the National Palace Museum’s conservation department.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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