China deserves praise for good containment

At a time when all countries must put in their efforts and resources together to meet the biggest-ever challenge posed to humanity by the contagious and deadly novel coronavirus, it is really unfortunate that some countries have started a totally unjustified and baseless smear campaign against China for the way it handled the pandemic. They ignored totally what the Chinese leadership and people did and sacrificed to combat the contagion.

The criticism from these countries in fact reflects nothing but sheer desperation out of their failure to control the rising infections and deaths due to the virus in their own regions.

The fact is that when the outbreak started, China did its utmost to implement epidemic prevention, control and rescue measures, maximizing the protection of people’s lives and health by completely locking down Wuhan city for 76 days.

China also notified the WHO and relevant countries in a timely manner, proactively promoting international cooperation and adopting effective measures to reduce the spread of the epidemic beyond its borders.

The country also treated foreigners in China with kindness, demonstrating its high sense of responsibility.

After successfully containing the virus in China, the Chinese leadership is now extending a helping hand to many other countries to meet the global challenge.

In our view, China’s determination, measures and effectiveness have been a proactive response to the pandemic.

This has also been hailed by the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said that China deserves our gratitude and respect for taking extraordinary measures to curb the spread of the virus.

US President Donald Trump himself is on record of praising the Chinese Leadership on the matter in February and March. His change of heart is now “understandable” — he is pointing fingers at China to avoid public backlash after failing to protect his people from the contagion.

To be honest, it is no time to blame your own failure on others. Some Western countries must accept their failure as well as responsibility. Stop the smear campaign against China. Meanwhile, all countries must join hands to find a cure for the pandemic at the earliest so as to save the precious lives.

(This is an editorial first published in Pakistan Observer on April 22.)