Make no mistake, this is Xi Jinping's coronavirus

As the Covid-19 epidemic caused by the new coronavirus has infected thousands of people worldwide, in countries like South Korea, Italy and Iran, we are very close to witness an apandemia. What started as a mysterious disease in the Chinese city of Wuhan has overwhelmed the country's health services, spread across the region and around the world.

However, in one way or another, China thinks that it can rejoice and pat itself on the back. In a cheeky act of premature self-glorification, a delivered Just published that compiles state media congratulating China's leadership on managing the virus epidemic, which of course continues to ravage the country. In particular, President Xi Jinping is praised for his "sense of mission" and "exceptional leadership".

Xi Jinping. File photo: Flickr / Creative Commons.

The editor of the nationalist tabloid Global Times (revelation: this writer worked there several years ago) has shamelessly criticized South Korea for being "slowAnd claimed that the low infection rate in the United States had to be "carefully checked."

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) continues to hold its puzzled puzzlement in China, claiming that the country has set an example for others. Bruce Aylward, who led a WHO mission to China, repeatedly praised the country's leadership, even saying bizarrely that if he was infected with the disease, he would like to be treated in China. But no praise can hide the fact that the coronavirus epidemic has become so serious because the Chinese authorities kept it secret for at least several weeks.

WHO's praise for China is compounded by its practice of not holding Beijing accountable for its many actions which have obscured and delayed an appropriate response. Many observers have questioned the organization’s obsequious stance towards China, particularly on the part of its secretary general, Tedros Ghebreyesus.

All of this ignores the most egregious factor in the coronavirus epidemic, which is the ineptitude of China's response, which involved censorship, delays and deliberate downplaying of the worsening Epidemic.

I am concerned that Wuhan's mistakes are repeated in other places of the world. In the eyes of the Chinese people, the epidemic in South Korea is very serious. A kind reminder, S. Korea is slow to take action. In addition, the low infection rate in the United States and other countries needs to be carefully checked.

– Hu Xijin (@HuXijin_GT) February 22, 2020

The more reports on the coronavirus epidemic, the more we learn about how China delayed action or withheld vital data. Even WHO has admitted that China has refused to share information on infections from frontline medical personnel.

The first cases were recorded in Wuhan in early December and by the end of the month, local authorities knew there was an epidemic of an unknown virus. However, eight doctors who discussed it on social media in a private group at the end of December were arrested and criticized by the authorities – remember, they were only talking to each other, not to publish anything thing in public. There has also been at least one week period when the number of cases has stagnated. The fact that it happened at an annual conference of provincial CCP leaders is probably not a coincidence.

For several weeks, the only cases reported in mainland China have been reported in Wuhan, although cases have occurred in Asia, Thailand, Singapore and Japan. Chinese netizens even joked that the coronavirus was "patriotic" because it jumped borders while remaining confined to Wuhan. As we now know, this was certainly not the case.

During those few weeks when the authorities were aware of the epidemic, but did so and said little about it, five million of its inhabitants had already left the city to others parts of the country as well as abroad. There were also several large-scale lunar New Year gatherings, including a district banquet with tens of thousands of guests.

On January 23, Wuhan (and ultimately the whole of Hubei Province) was locked up, but it was too late. The coronavirus had then spread to every province and region of China, resulting in the foreclosure of much more distant cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Hong Kong residents prepare to leave Hubei province. File Photo: GovHK.

In addition, the Chinese authorities have insisted for some time that the coronavirus cannot be spread from human to human. But that, of course, turned out to be wrong. However, there is evidence that Chinese researchers knew that human-to-human transmission was possible, which therefore implies that the authorities were lying or refusing vital information.

Be that as it may, the Chinese authorities aroused a serious feeling of complacency during these first vital weeks of January, during which they did not inform the public of the seriousness of the risk of coronavirus and precautions they should have taken. Xi first spoke publicly about the coronavirus on January 20, but apparently he had known about it since at least January 7.

When one of the eight "whistleblower" doctors, Li Wenliang, died of the coronavirus himself in early February, public outcry followed, leading the Chinese authorities to greet him as a hero. But almost immediately, authorities resumed arresting Chinese citizen journalists while censoring social media posts on the epidemic.

Obviously, the Chinese authorities are quick to pretend to mourn Lis' death, and then quickly prosecute the others for speaking out just as they did to Li and the other doctors.

In a new attempt to transfer responsibility, the central government in Beijing also tried to shift the responsibility for the late response of the coronaviruses to the local authorities. It is a standard tactic during crises to give the impression that the Chinese Communist Party regime is infallible and that major problems are always due only to corrupt or incompetent local officials.

But the mayor of Wuhan did not have this and said that having to wait for Beijing's approval meant that his hands were tied to act quickly. This is not surprising given that China's governance has become an increasingly top-down system where Xi has accumulated power and titles to the point where he is the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Tse-tung . This is why central governments are trying to blame the fault by punishing or replacing senior officials from Hubei and Wuhan is very insufficient.

Li Wenliang. Photo: Li Wenliang.

For a more open and efficient way to manage the coronavirus epidemic, WHO could easily consider Taiwan which has adopted a transparent approach which includes daily public press conferences, government control of the distribution of masks and early preparation.

As such, Taiwan has only 42 cases (as of Thursday), compared to more than 100 for Hong Kong and Singapore. Of course, this would require WHO to actually admit the existence of Taiwan. The island state is not only excluded from WHO and its forums, but is ignored or treated as part of China, to the point where important medical data is not shared with Taiwan .

To date, the coronavirus has infected more than 5,000 people in South Korea, more than 3,000 in Italy and Iran, killing dozens. It has also spread to Egypt and Brazil, which means that all continents, except Antarctica, have confirmed cases. It has truly become a global outbreak, although WHO is hesitant to declare it a pandemic. The world must really start to focus on fighting the epidemic now, without any indulgence or lack of preparation.

Make no mistake, the blame and responsibility for the coronavirus epidemic falls entirely on the Chinese CCP regime. And as for Xi Jinping, the only remarkable thing he has done is to have put his country and the world at risk.