by Scott Hagerstrom
Washington is right to demand financial compensation from China, whose leaders must be held accountable for lying to the world about the devastating COVID-19 pandemic that originated in their country. Michigan should throw its weight behind the effort, as well.
Around 4,500 Michiganders have already paid the ultimate price for China’s deadly coronavirus coverup, and thousands more are fighting for their lives against this ruthless disease every day. While the federal government’s bold emergency initiatives have helped save countless American lives, our country should have never had to fight this invisible enemy in the first place.
During a recent press conference, President Trump announced that the U.S. is likely to seek hundreds of billions of dollars in economic damages from China, rightfully noting that Beijing could have done far more to prevent the early spread of the disease.
“We are not happy with China, we are not happy with that whole situation,” he said. “Because we believe [the outbreak] could have been stopped at the source, it could have been stopped quickly, and it wouldn’t have spread all over the world.”
During a recent town hall, the President also underscored the fact that the Chinese government hid vital facts from the world community, particularly during the crucial early stages of the outbreak, arguing that the world is now suffering because of China’s malfeasance. “Don’t forget, China tried to blame it first on some of our soldiers … And then they tried to blame it on Europe,” he said.
It goes beyond the tragic loss of life. In Michigan, where the unemployment was just 3.6 percent as recently as February, over 20 percent of the workforce is currently jobless due to coronavirus lockdown measures.
Even though Chinese authorities continue to vehemently deny any and all allegations of wrongdoing, the world already knows the painful truth: the regime silenced doctors and scientists who were trying to warn about the virus at the precise time when it mattered most.
The cover up began in late December, when doctors at the Wuhan Central Hospital began sounding the alarm over the novel coronavirus. Despite the fact that the city had dozens of suspected coronavirus patients by the end of the month, authorities instead interrogated doctors who were raising concerns about the new disease, instructing them not to spread information about the virus.
On January 1, officials ordered labs to destroy existing virus samples and suspend all sample testing — a move that seems to contradict China’s ongoing insistence that the novel coronavirus emerged naturally, rather than escaping from the virus research laboratory in Wuhan. The Wuhan Public Security Bureau, meanwhile, began questioning eight doctors who previously posted information about the virus on Chinese social media.
Then came China’s deadliest lie of all — the regime released a baseless research study claiming that the novel coronavirus can’t be spread between humans. Despite the obvious questions concerning its veracity, the study was touted on Twitter by the World Health Organization, encouraging complacency around the world.
“Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,” WHO wrote.
Even now, observers suspect that the communist regime is lying about its coronavirus statistics, downplaying the severity of its own outbreak in order to project an aura of competency.
It’s not just the federal government that’s looking to hold China accountability for its deadly duplicity, though. Some individual states are already taking matters into their own hands. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, for instance, recently filed a lawsuit against China demanding restitution for the damage inflicted by the novel coronavirus.
“The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of COVID-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease,” Schmitt said in a statement. “They must be held accountable for their actions.”
Our friends in Missouri have the right idea — but it will take more than just one state to make China pay for its actions. Michiganders should join the call to condemn the communist regime for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and demand justice for the thousands of innocent Americans who have needlessly died because of China’s cover-up.
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Scott Hagerstrom, a Republican grassroots operative, was the Michigan state director for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Photo “Donald Trump” by Photo “Donald Trump” by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. CC BY 2.0.
