Trump's accusations against China are a vile attempt to rewrite history

By Dennis Etler

US President Trump, in his address to the UN General Assembly, has brought his vile campaign of duplicity, obfuscation, and slander, which he has used to promote a divide and rule strategy at home, to the world stage. He wants to apply the same strategy that breaks down the relationships and unity between subjugated groups struggling for justice, freedom, and liberation within the US, to the UN.

In so doing, he hopes  to maintain the status quo in the world at large, pitting nation against nation to maintain US global dominance and hegemony.  As with the fascists of days gone by he seeks to find scapegoats for the failures of the system he presides over. That scapegoat, both at home and abroad, is China and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in sharp contrast, has pledged that China will continue and accelerate its policy of support for the UN and the world struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic. China seeks to enhance a multilateral system of shared global governance that respects national diversity while creating a world of shared common destiny for all humankind, the exact opposite of Trump's divisive "America First" unilateralism that seeks to perpetuate US global hegemony.

Trump accuses China of allowing the coronavirus to "leave China and infect the world," and thus be "held accountable for its actions." This attempt at "finger pointing" is meant to deflect from his own failure to take COVID-19 seriously.

He accused the Chinese government, and the World Health Organization of having "falsely declared that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission," and "falsely said people without symptoms would not spread the disease." Both China and the WHO were initially faced with a new pathogen whose characteristics were unknown. They quickly established its potential for community spread and the danger of contagion by asymptomatic carriers of the disease.

By mid-January 2020 these two characteristics of the disease were firmly established and the world was alerted to COVID-19 as a global health emergency. Soon thereafter Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, was quarantined, Hubei province was locked down and China mounted an unprecedented national campaign to contain and control the new coronavirus. The result was the ultimate defeat of COVID-19 in China and the restoration of normal social and economic activity.

How China saved millions of people dying from coronavirus

China acted extremely quickly and very proactively and with transparency and saved millions of people dying from the coronavirus outbreak, says Dennis Etler.

From the beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan the US was well aware of the pandemic potential of COVID-19 and to China's efforts to stem its spread, but did not take it seriously. Rather than preparing in advance procedures to mitigate its inevitable spread to the US and the rest of the world, Trump downplayed its severity, and falsely said that the coronavirus was no different than the common flu and would miraculously disappear on its own accord, knowing full well that it wasn't true. He has said so himself in recorded interviews in which he admitted downplaying the pandemic in order to "avoid panic," the very thing he accuses China of.

Contrary to scientific evidence Trump accused Beijing of allowing the coronavirus to "leave China and infect the world." Recent investigations, however, show that SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen that causes COVID-19, was already spreading across the world months before its first recognized outbreak in Wuhan. The ultimate origin of the disease is still unknown, but there is no evidence that it began in and spread from China.

Trump, who faces a difficult reelection fight on November 3, has sought to deflect overwhelming voter criticism of his handling of the pandemic by blaming China. If anyone should be held accountable for the West's failed response to to the pandemic, however, it is Trump, who has continuously spread disinformation about COVID-19 and left the US and the world defenseless against its onslaught. China, on the other hand, has gone all out to supply vulnerable countries with medical teams, personal protective equipment and medical supplies.

Trump also accused China of only looking after its own interests when the potentially lethal virus first appeared in the city of Wuhan late last year. In fact it is well documented that it is the US that purloined PPE and diverted medical supplies for its own use and has tried to corner the market for therapeutic medicines.

Trump's vicious and unfounded attack against China and the WHO are specious, and a transparent attempt to divert attention away from his own failures. Like the proverbial "Emperor with No Clothes" he has only expose himself to ridicule and contempt.

Speaking at UN, Trump accuses China of spreading COVID-19

US President Trump has once again blamed China for the COVID-19 pandemic and called on Beijing to be punished for its handling of the disease.

Dennis Etler is an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs. He’s a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. He wrote this article for Press TV website.

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