Politicization of origin tracing is global enemy

2021-August-9 09:28 By:

Politicization of origin tracing is global enemy

(File photo)

On July 27, government officials from the US and other countries issued a statement supporting the so-called work plan on a second-phase of origins study targeting China, which was proposed by the Secretariat of the World Health Organization. In response, China stated its firm position again: any practice of stigmatizing the pandemic, putting a geographical label on the virus, or politicizing the origin tracing will seriously disrupt and undermine international cooperation in origin-tracing research, and will cause significant difficulties and obstacles in the efforts to combat the pandemic and save lives. Therefore, China must reject it.

As early as January this year, the WHO launched relevant investigations in China. Proceeding from its international responsibility for promoting global anti-pandemic cooperation, China actively cooperated in the spirit of science.

After 28 days of scientific, rigorous, objective and transparent investigation, China along with the WHO completed the "Chinese part" of the virus origin-tracing study, and officially released a joint report on March 30. The report gave a scientific conclusion that “a laboratory leak is highly unlikely” and put forward clear suggestions for the next step, such as “searching for possible early cases on a global scale”, which has been universally endorsed by the international community.

On the basis of this investigation, the WHO should further promote the origin-tracing work in multiple other places around the world, especially conducting necessary in-depth investigations in some countries like the US, where various scientific researches found that cases appeared as early as the end of 2019. Only in this way can it be scientific tracing work ,which will lead to a scientific and objective tracing eventually. Without any new scientific and reasonable evidence, it is completely unnecessary for the US and other Western countries to push the WHO to carry out the so-called work plan on a second-phase of origins study focusing on China. Such absolute politicization and instrumentalization of origin tracing has completely become a blasphemy of science, and the positive will of the international community to work together to fight the pandemic.

It must be noted that the politicization of origin tracing cannot change the facts that the US has failed in pandemic prevention and control and has negatively affected the global campaign to contain the pandemic. In the past period of time, due to the serious lack of national governance, partisan feuds, fragmentation of federalism, and the distortion of the election cycle, the pandemic has continued to be out of control in the US. Since Joe Biden came to power, spread of the pandemic in the US has temporarily slowed down. However, with the vaccination campaign becoming partisan and the American people belittling the pandemic, as well as the new pressure brought by virus mutation, COVID-19 has rebounded significantly in the US. In the face of the severe situation, the Biden administration has resumed the inferior tactics of the previous government to politicize the pandemic and origin tracing. Not only did it require US intelligence services to conduct so-called origin-tracing investigations, but it also pressured the WHO to conduct the second stage of origin tracing that is totally unscientific and unreasonable.

Undoubtedly, compared with the Trump administration, the Biden administration’s repetition of the old tricks, which is vainly attempting to shift the blame, also hides sinister intentions of propagating “China threat” in the so-called values and ideological fields, in order to call on allies to suppress China. It is very ironic that the Biden administration has done everything possible to promote vaccination to control the domestic pandemic, accusing Republicans or conservative groups of refusing vaccination for political reasons and calling it an unscientific and irresponsible attitude, but the same Biden administration has advocated the politicization of origin tracing on the international stage. Isn’t it equally unscientific, irresponsible and even worse? Does this double-standard approach really make the country’s pandemic prevention and control not look bad? Absolutely not. Because no petty trick can deny the fact that there has been a man-made disaster with more than 35 million cumulative cases and more than 600,000 deaths in the US, making it the deadliest short slab that hinders the victory of pandemic containment in all countries around the world.

It must be noted that the politicization of origin tracing will never shake China's confidence and determination to steadily advance domestic anti-pandemic efforts and global cooperation. In the face of the sudden pandemic, the Communist Party of China united and led the people of all ethnic groups across the country to fight a thrilling battle against the pandemic, withstood an arduous historical test, and made great efforts to make major strategic achievements in the fight against the novel coronavirus and create another heroic feat in the history of human struggle against diseases. While effectively preventing and controlling the pandemic, as a responsible major country, China actively fulfills its international obligations, proactively reported epidemic information to the WHO and relevant countries and regional organizations once it was available, and released information such as the gene sequence of the novel coronavirus. It announced diagnosis and treatment plans and prevention and control plans immediately, provided a large quantity of key materials for pandemic prevention such as vaccines to many countries, strongly supported global pandemic prevention and control, practiced the great concept of the human health community, and won high praises from the international community .

In March, China actively cooperated in the WHO-led investigation, making a very important start for the next step of scientific tracing in multiple countries and regions. Facing the unprecedented global challenge, China's actions in pandemic prevention and control, international cooperation, world responsibility, scientific spirit and other aspects are of exemplary significance, and it has played a key role that cannot be replaced in many important aspects, such as how to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic and keep world economy stable ,etc. This is a fact that no one, no force, no country, no organization can deny. Now, in the face of new challenges for domestic prevention and control caused by factors such as virus mutation, and in the face of origin-tracing politicization and the consequent possible waves of international public opinion, stirred up by the US and other countries, the Chinese people, led by the CPC, will only be more united, more resolute, more confident and more determined to win one victory after another in pandemic prevention and control, shoulder the irreplaceable responsibility of a responsible major country in the global fight against the pandemic, and stick to the correct direction for all mankind to be able to head toward a better future after the pandemic is overcome.

It must be noted that the politicization of origin tracing is greatly undermining the WHO's coordinating role and hindering concerted efforts in global pandemic prevention and control. In the face of the unprecedented pandemic, the WHO, as a multilateral international organization dedicated to public health affairs in the international community, should play a key and authoritative role in coordinating international anti-pandemic actions. This also requires it to respect science, to abide by the UN Charter and the basic principles of international law, and to express the general expectations of the international community. Currently, under the pressure and interference from the US and other countries, the work plan on second-phase origins study proposed by the WHO Secretariat is completely self-deprecating and self-destroying, which is extremely unwise. The so-called work plan on a second phase of origins study not only completely violates the resolution passed at the 73rd World Health Assembly last year, but also denies the clear scientific conclusions and suggestions made after the investigation in March without foundation.

The international public opinion triggered by this inconceivable move made by the WHO Secretariat is sufficient to prove how few supporters it has: so far 60 countries have written to the WHO, emphasizing that virus origin tracing is a matter of science and they oppose politicization of this issue. The joint research report issued on March 30 should be maintained; on July 26, the online opinion poll report released by CGTN think tank also showed that 80% of global netizens polled believed that the origin tracing for the novel coronavirus had been politicized. If the WHO really wants to continue to play a coordinating role, especially by promoting scientific origin tracing to achieve better understanding of the virus, it should aggressively promote scientific origin-tracing work in multiple countries and regions, and it should require the US to cooperate in its tracing investigation. Its scope of tracing should include Fort Detrick's biological laboratory, which has repeatedly leaked viruses and bacteria, as well as biological laboratories operated by the US in other parts of the world. Otherwise, if the WHO is willing to become a politicized "hegemonic tool", it will eventually lead to disorder and chaos in international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic. How can we defeat the common enemy of all mankind in the international battle against the virus with different countries fighting the enemy on their own or even harboring the political purpose of playing power game? What it undermines is not only the global battle against the virus, but also the destiny of all mankind.

Today, the global pandemic situation is still severe, and there is a long way to go for world economy to recover under and after the pandemic. There is no second half of the global pandemic prevention and control, and every game should be played well. The novel coronavirus is the global public enemy, and so is the politicization of virus origin-tracing. The fight against the pandemic requires all countries to work together and help each other to achieve a common victory, but some countries are creating a political virus that weakens the global joint force and hinders common victory for their own interests. Such perverse acts by taking advantage of the pandemic to seek hegemony will inevitably be spurned and abandoned by the international community.

Contributed by Diao Daming, research fellow of The Institute of Socialist Thought with Chinese Characteristics of Xi Jinping, Renmin University of China

Translated by Wu You

Editor: Zhang Zhou
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