Ambassador Cui Tiankai Clears the Air in Washington Post on the Mentality To ‘Always Blame China’

May 6, 2020 (EIRNS)—China’s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, wrote an op-ed published in today’s Washington Post amid a rising cacophony of attacks on China in which American political figures are striving to exceed each other for self-serving political purposes. In his piece, “Blaming China Will Not End This Pandemic,” Ambassador Cui wrote, “However, an unnecessary burden has been distracting our focus and undercutting international efforts to curb the virus: the absurd mind-set of ‘always blame China.’ Simply put, for some people, China has to be wrong, regardless of the facts.”

Recapitulating the record of what China has actually done in combatting the novel coronavirus since detecting it and locking down 60 million people in Hubei Province completely, Cui emphasized that the virus first victimized China, its people, its economy. “To ask a victim for compensation is simply ridiculous. If that made sense, then who was to compensate for the fatalities of the H1N1 flu and HIV/AIDS? Who was to pay for the huge losses caused by the 2008 financial crisis?”

Cui concluded:

“It is time to end the blame game. It is time to focus on the disease and rebuild trust between our two countries. As President Abraham Lincoln called for ‘the better angels’ in his inauguration speech, I hope that the wisdom of preceding generations will guide us to choose the right side of history and work for our shared future together.”

President Donald Trump today called the pandemic “the worst attack since Pearl Harbor of 9/11,” repeating “It could have been stopped at the source. It could have been stopped in China.”

A much sharper warning, of outright war waiting on the horizon, was made in the “Sino File” on May 6 in South China Morning Post, entitled “A U.S. Move To Seek Coronavirus Pandemic Damages From China Might Well Trigger War.” SCMP columnist Cary Huang wrote that both countries’ diplomacy is getting extremely combative, and that the U.S. population and Congress are being “turned sour on China.” Huang wrote: “If Trump acts to seek damages from China over the pandemic, it will put an end to such normalized diplomatic relations, as any such move might be tantamount to the declaration of war.”