More reason, less conspiracy …

A column entitled “The Chinese regime is accountable”, published on May 30 in The Journal of Montrealscandalized me. It is deplorable that the author has chosen, like some politicians, to repeat unfounded allegations which, in my opinion, constitute a political virus spread for the sole purpose of discrediting China. These gratuitous attacks shock me when the real story is quite different.

The Chinese government would have “hidden the truth” and “did not sound the alarm bells”? It seems unfair to me to say so. Recall the facts: on December 26, 2019, pulmonologist Zhang Jixian found the pneumonic condition of an elderly couple questionable. In accordance with the infectious disease surveillance procedure, she reported these cases of infection the very next day (three days before ophthalmologist Li Wenliang discussed them with her colleagues). Four days later, China reported the situation to the World Health Organization (WHO). From January 3, 2020, the information was regularly transmitted to the WHO, the United States and other countries, including the genomic sequencing of the virus on January 12. Looking at the history of mankind in the face of an unknown virus, it seems reasonable to me to say that China has sounded the alarm with unprecedented effectiveness. Unfortunately, we still hear some repeating allegations that China is once again becoming an ideological and geopolitical victim.

It is also sad to note the politicization and instrumentalisation of the research carried out to establish the origin of this new virus, which should have been carried out in a scientific framework for the benefit of the health of the entire world population. But at the same time, we never forget the human solidarity consolidating and prevailing over political prejudices. At a time when China was suffering the most, Canada and other countries in the international community provided invaluable support by donating medical supplies, which always warms the hearts of the Chinese. In return, China has also done everything possible to support the rest of the world in this common fight against the virus.

I would also like to recall that China has twice invited WHO experts for field research, in the spirit of openness and transparency. For the first time, in February 2020, D^r Bruce Aylward, Canadian epidemiologist and co-leader of the joint China-WHO expert mission, saw first-hand China’s efforts to prevent large numbers of infection cases. What is unfortunate is that some countries at that time mocked China as “sick man from Asia” and ignored the “window period” to fight the virus. For the second time earlier this year, the British zoologist Peter Daszak and the Danish epidemiologist Thea Kolsen Fischer, both members of the WHO team, denounced the distortion of their words, which throws the shadow over scientific work.

Unfortunately, the article I mentioned is plunged into a similar kind of distortion, demonstrating a lack of knowledge about human history and the sanitary measures taken by China. With more reason and less conspiracy the world will be better off!

Chen Xueming
Consul General of China in Montreal