China Review News: Some officials in a handful of countries including the US have been trying to blame China for the pandemic outbreak,
accusing China of covering up the actual caseload of the infected and disseminating disinformation on COVID19. They also said that they will
reckon with China after the pandemic passes. What is your response?
Hua Chunying: At present, COVID19 is ravaging across the world, especially in Europe and the US. People of all countries have called for
unity to fight the pandemic, but still some people have made jarring noises from time to time, quite discordant with the current atmosphere of
unity against the pandemic. I want to stress a few points.
As the coronavirus is novel virus unseen in the past, its detection, research, testing and confirmation naturally requires time. According to
reports, on December 27, 2019, Zhang Jixian, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care at Hubei Hospital of Integrated
Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, reported the first three suspected cases. On December 29, Hubei and Wuhan health committees
instructed related centers for disease control and prevention and hospitals to carry out epidemiological investigation. On December 30 Wuhan
Municipal Health Committee issued an "urgent notice on the treatment of pneumonia of unknown cause". On December 31, the NHC sent an
expert group to Wuhan to investigate on site. On January 3, 2020, China started to send timely updates to WHO and other countries, including
the US. On January 11, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention put online five whole genome sequences of the novel
coronavirus and shared data with the world and WHO. On January 23, Wuhan was put under lockdown and unprecedented comprehensive,
thorough and rigorous measures were taken. The Chinese government took decisive and strong measures at the earliest time possible and the
Chinese people have been united as one in this fight against the pandemic, which ensured the life, safety and health of the Chinese people to
the highest extent.
WHO estimates that the decisive, effective and timely measures taken by the Chinese government prevented the infection of tens of thousands
of people. Many countries also think China's practice offers explicable precedence. Our open, transparent and responsible attitude has been
highly acclaimed by the international community.
We have no intention to judge other countries' response to the pandemic. But while China set an example and bought precious time for the world
with huge efforts and sacrifice, as WHO, foreign leaders, experts and media say, did a certain country make full use of the time to enhance
preparedness? I think its government knows that very well, and its people can feel it too.
Since January 3 China has been notifying the US of epidemicrelated information on a regular basis. On January 7, the US CDC and its embassy
in China issued warnings on traveling to Wuhan. On January 25, the US announced the decision to close its consulate in Wuhan and withdraw all
staff. On February 2, the US government banned entry of all Chinese nationals and foreigners who had been to China in the past 14 days. Now so
many days have passed, and some in the US still claim China should be held responsible for the COVID19 in the US. Don't they feel guilty or
ashamed? They are trying to shift the biggest blame of the century to China and make it the biggest scapegoat. However, such an attempt is just
impossible as the blame is too heavy to be shifted. Sorry, it won't work.
The pandemic is in some way like a magical mirror that exposes a person's morality and character to the fullest extent. The virus knows no ideology,
border or race. The destinies of all countries are closely intertwined. No one can make up for lost time by slandering others or shifting the blame.
The only way to defeat the virus is through solidarity and cooperation.
At the G20 virtual summit last week, President Xi put forward propositions on overcoming the difficulties hand in hand. Upholding the vision of a
community with a shared future for mankind, China would like to share our experience on COVID19, conduct international cooperation, and provide
as much help as we can to countries in need. That is what we say and what we do. We hope certain individuals will, like the CPC and the Chinese
government, put people's life, health and safety first, abandon political bias and arrogance, and focus on international cooperation in pandemic
response.
CCTV: In a recent interview, White House trade adviser Navarro accused China of a cover-up that has set the world back six weeks, saying China
saw human-to-human transmission cases as early as mid-December. I wonder if you have any comment?
Hua Chunying: The lies told by this US politician are not worth refuting. I noticed that during that interview, even the host interrupted him several
times and pointed out he was wasting everybody's time.
What is the truth? The truth is, since the epidemic broke out, we have always been open, transparent and responsible. We notified WHO and the
international community of related information in a timely manner, shared genome sequencing findings of the virus at the earliest time possible,
responded to other countries' concerns, conducted international cooperation and provided help to others. The sacrifice made by the Chinese people
has bought valuable time for global anti-epidemic response.
Since the beginning of January, China has been sending regular updates to WHO and other countries, the US included. How can the US politician
allege that China's delay set the world back six weeks? What is his intention? He just wanted to muddy the water, shift the blame and undermine
China-US cooperation as well as global cooperation in fighting COVID-19. No one with a sense of justice will fall for his words.
We advise Mr. Navarro to try and grasp the gist of the phone call between Chinese and US presidents on March 27. He should stop smearing China
and undermining China-US relations, and work to advance rather than harm the two peoples' interests.