Posted on 03/21/2020 7:03:40 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
United States President Donald Trump's recent labeling of the novel coronavirus pneumonia pandemic as originating from a "Chinese virus" has triggered widespread backlash from the international community.
Officials and commentators worldwide used words like "racist" and "xenophobic" to describe the term and said it is part of Washington's attempt to shift blame to China for its delayed, inefficient response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Instead of terms such as "COVID-19" or "coronavirus", the US top leader used the term in both his Wednesday and Thursday news conferences at the White House as well as in some recent tweets, and he publicly rejected reporters' questions about whether the term was racist.
The World Health Organization gave the name COVID-19 to novel coronavirus pneumonia on Feb 11, when WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said it was both for scientific purposes and also to "avoid a number of different stigmatizing or other forms of confusing names".
US Democrats have slammed Trump and other Republicans for using "Chinese" or "Wuhan" when referring to the virus in public statements and social media posts.
Former US vice-president Joe Biden on Wednesday condemned Trump's comments and urged him to "take responsibility" for his actions.
"Stop the xenophobic fearmongering. Be honest. Take responsibility. Do your job," he wrote on Twitter.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton also tweeted on Wednesday that Trump was attempting to distract people from his administration's slow response to the pandemic.
"The president is turning to racist rhetoric to distract from his failures to take the coronavirus seriously early on, make tests widely available and adequately prepare the country for a period of crisis," she tweeted. "Don't fall for it. Don't let your friends and family fall for it."
The distinguished American economist Paul Krugman said in his New York Times column that the coronavirus outbreak should probably be referred to as the "Trump pandemic" as the US response to the virus has been "catastrophically slow and inadequate".
Racism and blaming other people have been the defining features Trump have used during his presidency, he added.
Josep Borrell, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, said on Thursday that viruses don't have a nationality and don't care about borders.
"COVID-19 is not a Chinese virus, as the Spanish flu was not Spanish," he tweeted. "We all face a massive threat that requires global cooperation and all of us working hand in hand."
Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, said on Thursday: "COVID-19 is COVID-19." He said trying to link a nation to the illness "is disgraceful."
The term used by Trump is "the sort of language which leads to incitement and hatred toward people of Chinese origin", Khan said when answering questions from members of the London Assembly about the pandemic.
"We are a city which celebrates our diversity and we think it is a strength, not a weakness. It's really important that we do not fall into the trap of some to use this virus as an excuse to denigrate, demean and humiliate people," the mayor added.
Pascal Lamy, former director-general of the World Trade Organization, said that the COVID-19 crisis is testing first and foremost the resilience of national governance, as the capacity to fight the virus lies in the quality of health systems and in collective disciplines such as social distancing.
But there is also a second order international dimension in cooperation to provide medical equipment, liquidity for economies or signals for concerted action, Lamy said.
"In this respect, I very much agree with the WHO that 'my country first' or 'blame the foreigners' political proclamations are dangerously counterproductive, including when they target China," he said.
Canadian experts and officials also stressed that using the term that Trump did does not help bring the whole world together to respond to this common threat. Only through global collaboration can the war against the virus eventually be won.
Thomas Bernes, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said that the terms being used by Trump are "highly regrettable and inappropriate".
"This is a global threat that requires global cooperation to defeat the virus and respond to the global economic challenge," said Bernes. "Trump's go-it-alone approach can only fail, and his language can only exacerbate problems and make global cooperation more difficult."
Toronto Councilor Jim Karygiannis said it is time for the US president to acknowledge that the term is racist and apologize for using it.
"The president continually has demonstrated that he reacts before he thinks. In this case, he is using China as a scapegoat for his country not being ready to fight the COVID-19 threat," said Karygiannis.
Leading media have also criticized the use of the term.
Amanda Walker, US correspondent of Sky News, wrote on Thursday that Trump "has recently and very purposefully ramped up his reference to 'Chinese virus'".
She noted that "there has been another recent change in Mr Trump's tone" as Trump is now "taking this public health crisis seriously" and he "accepted it could cause a recession and its grip on America could last well into the summer, which is just a couple of months from November's election.
"If millions of Americans die, it will be on his watch," Walker wrote. She said using an insulting term "is a way of deflecting blame".
The New York Times said on Thursday that Trump is "ignoring a growing chorus of criticism that it is racist and anti-Chinese".
SARS: Saudi Arabian Respiratory Syndrome.
Oh, and let’s never forget “Legionnaires Disease”, AKA “legionellosis”, even though that’s a bacterial disease, not a virus.
That is one theory. It was played up in the PBS documentary.
Another theory is that the virus came, like so many others, from China, where people, pigs, and poultry also live in close proximity. Still other theories point to other places. Some scholars are taking the mild impact the virus had on China as evidence that it couldn't have started there. Others say that the flu didn't hit China hard because people already had immunity to similar strains. Still others claim that the virus did hit China hard.
Also a subject of debate: whether the flu really did hit younger and healthier people harder for some biological reasons, or whether it was the overcrowding and unhygienic conditions in the camps and trenches that put so many of the young at risk.
What about the German measles and the Spanish flu?
5.56mm
The New York Times said Chinese Flu and Wuhan Flu before Trump did. Then they turned around and called him racist.
I’ve never been much of an NFL fan, but growing up in Texas, well Cowboys!
I’m wanting a Cowboy jersey with number 01, and the name XENOPHOBE.
By the way, I call it the Kung Flu!
“Trump’s slur against China earns global censure[from the world “leaders” who are losing the battle against the virus.”
No surprise, coming from china daily. Filthy communists who hate this country and Trump. Keep your crappy junk and your viruses in your country!
So...Chink flu is absolutely out of the question?
Probably better than some descriptive terms.
Indeed even plants get in name game Dutch Elm disease.......................................
While China spreads the lie that we GAVE them the virus. Blaming US soldiers there for some event in September.
Ching chong ding dong... Eff off Chicom propagandists. You turds own this mess. It’s the Chicom Virus. Trump is right.
“Except Spanish Flu never came from Spain. It was named that because the King of Spain caught it.”
IIRC, it was called “Spanish Flu” because Spain was the first non-combatant WWI nation it reached, and they reported it in their press. Reporting on it by newspapers in the US, UK, Germany, etc., was censored because it impacted military capabilities.
The amount of racism in the world is sickening.
Only a bigot and a racist would think that saying “the Chinese virus” is racist.
This is so over the top that it reads like the Babylon Bee. I had to check the source to be sure. China Daily has inadvertently written satire.
I prefer “Chinese Bat Soup Virus.”
F#CK THE CHINKS!
Your middle graphic, I could have sworn it said "Human Market" not Huanan Market!
It really sucks getting old.
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