Why China Must Be Held Accountable for the Coronavirus Pandemic

For the sake of morality, political governance, and the future, the world must ensure that the Chinese regime pays for its malfeasance.

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A video screen in Beijing shows President Xi Jinping’s address to the Communist Party Congress, October 25, 2017.

Tyrone Siu/Reuters

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is waging a ferocious, global propaganda campaign designed to deflect blame for the origin and spread of the COVID-19 outbreak from Wuhan, China. Moreover, Beijing is trying to take advantage of the pandemic to increase its global standing and influence. There are three main reasons why the world must hold the CCP accountable for the first global pandemic in a century.

The first reason the CCP must be held accountable for the pandemic is that morality demands it. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s regime has refused to accept responsibility for allowing the epidemic to spread uncontrolled, first in Wuhan, then throughout China, and finally beyond its borders to the rest of the world. Chinese officials knew of the seriousness of the pandemic as early as December, yet waited weeks to begin restricting travel, allowing millions of Wuhan residents to visit relatives elsewhere in the country and abroad for Lunar New Year celebrations, spreading the virus as they went. British scientists have argued that if Beijing had acted just three weeks earlier, it could have reduced the spread of the virus by 95 percent.

Michael Auslin

About the Author

Michael Auslin

Michael Auslin is the author of National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America (Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster). He is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.

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