Who could argue with this statement on coronavirus made by Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, as pandemic rampages around the planet?
"This is a virus that has taken more than 200,000 lives across the world. It has shut down the global economy. The implications and impacts of this are extraordinary. Now it would seem entirely reasonable and sensible that the world would want to have an independent assessment of how all this occurred, so we can learn the lessons and prevent it from happening again."The answer is simple: China. For this sensible suggestion was enough to drive Beijing into fury. Admittedly, it was made amid a long-running feud between the two countries with strong words on both sides, threats of a consumer boycott from Beijing’s ambassador and a furore over leaked diplomatic conversations. "Australia is always there, making trouble," blogged Hu Xijin, editor of Global Times, a brash tabloid that serves as Beijing’s attack dog. "It is a bit like chewing gum stuck on the sole of China's shoes. Sometimes you have to find a stone to rub it off." Yet the Australian leader is correct. It makes perfect sense to determine how this disease broke out, then spread around the world so rapidly to cause such epic devastation — especially when it is still not clear precisely when, where or why it erupted in human beings. I have heard the same suggestion from Right-wing Tory MPs through to Left-wing human rights lawyers. Or listen to Winston Peters, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister: "It’s very hard to conceive of there not being a desire by every country in world, including the country of origin, for an investigation to find out how this happened," he said. But China opposes such an inquiry. A probe could expose the embarrassing truth about the source — whether a wild animal market in Wuhan, or one of two secretive laboratories working nearby with bats and coronaviruses. It might reveal more about the Communist Party’s crackdown on whistleblowing doctors, rejection of outside offers to investigate the emerging virus and cover-up of data. Officials have raised death numbers in Wuhan after global criticism. But it still seems strange that 13 flights with 2,990 passengers from Wuhan to Italy over the critical three-month period helped cause such contagion in Europe yet 7,530 flights containing 1,016,550 passengers to elsewhere in China sparked far fewer fatalities there. China’s leaders are behaving like a big playground bully. They are throwing their weight around with threats to thwart an international investigation that might expose weaknesses inherent in a brutal dictatorship that does not permit dissent. Morrison deserves credit for standing firm — unlike our own political masters, who just mutter about the need for "hard questions". He was the first leader of a major nation to raise valid issues over Huawei’s involvement in telecoms infrastructure. He has pushed hard for reform of the risible World Health Organisation. Yet China accounts for a big chunk of Australia’s trade as its biggest market for key sectors such as coal, beef, wine, tourism and education. [su_unherd_related fttitle="Suggested reading" author="Guglielmo Verdirame"]https://staging.unherd.com/2020/04/for-china-a-legal-reckoning-is-coming/ [/su_unherd_related] This is more than simply another diplomatic spat. Closer to home, it has emerged that China complained three times to the European Union in a bid to blunt a report on its disinformation efforts, warning that bilateral relations could suffer if Brussels dared accuse Beijing of exploiting the coronavirus crisis. Criticism was toned down as a result, according to reports, following some furious internal rows. Mention of a "global disinformation campaign" was dropped from public documents, although there were still softer allegations of covert operations on social media. Yet we know its officials tried to shift blame for the outbreak to both Italy and the United States. Meanwhile, there have also been shenanigans in the South China Seas, where China has been making claims over vast areas of the ocean by building naval bases on coral reefs. The New York Times reported last week how it has been intimidating fishing boats from other nations, opening new ‘research stations’ equipped with military-grade runways and grabbing new chunks of contested reefs and rocks. Some are submerged, so would fail to confer rights under international law. "The Chinese want to create a new normal in the South China Sea, where they are in charge, and to do that they’ve become more and more aggressive," said Alexander Vuving, a security expert in Honolulu. There has also been a crackdown in Hong Kong, where brave protesters last year made clear their desperation to retain freedoms promised under the ‘one country, two systems’ deal negotiated during handover from Britain. Among the activists and politicians rounded up earlier this month was Martin Lee, the affable 81-year-old father of democracy who testified to British MPs how that agreement was designed to ensure "no Hong Kong resident would have to fear a midnight knock on the door". Jimmy Lai, who founded an outspoken paper in the territory, was also arrested in tactics clearly designed to silence critics and deter further protests. [su_unherd_related fttitle="Suggested reading" author="Maajid Nawaz"]https://staging.unherd.com/2020/04/china-is-preparing-for-war/[/su_unherd_related] These moves demonstrate China’s assertiveness under Xi Jinping, who took power eight years ago. He has intensified domestic repression, seen most starkly with the hideous incarceration of Muslim minorities and ratcheting up of surveillance. He has stepped up pressure on other nations to have no truck with Taiwan, which helped lead to the world ignoring this small democratic nation’s early warnings on the virus. Now his army of diplomats even argue that "disregarding China’s huge sacrifice in the fight against Covid 19 is slander", as one envoy told a British newspaper. This is all part of his bullish strategy to "charge forward with a full tank" — as Xi put it to party acolytes two years ago when they backed his plan to retain control for life. "The Chinese people have understood since ancient times that there are no free things to enjoy," said Xi, warning the National People’s Congress that the world might not accept their rise to supremacy. "To be happy, one must fight for it." Now he has unleashed ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’ that fires off fierce insults at governments that cross his country, while any corporation that fails to follow Beijing’s diktats on Taiwan or Hong Kong faces being frozen out of the world’s biggest market. With immense skill, China’s Communist leadership exploited the world’s desire for cheap goods in order to lift millions of its people from poverty while strengthening their own power. Now we can see clearly this ruthless regime’s determination to dominate the post-pandemic global order, speeding up its drive for ascendancy over the West. Xi clearly intends to grab maximum commercial and diplomatic advantage after emerging early from a catastrophe that exploded from within his own borders, while also capitalising on a gaping void left by the United States under its infantile president. [su_unherd_related fttitle="Suggested reading" author="Nick Timothy"]https://staging.unherd.com/2020/04/weve-cosied-up-to-china-for-too-long/?=refinnar[/su_unherd_related] This is why the tussle over establishing the truth about this virus matters. I accept that some politicians are attacking China as a diversion from their own dismal failures over pandemic. But Beijing’s propaganda machine is running at full tilt to push the belief their response was best, since this promotes the idea that their autocratic style of government is most effective in crisis. It is worth noting, incidentally, that so fast does this virus spread, one study claimed two-thirds of cases might have been eliminated if Wuhan had been locked down one week earlier - and 95% averted if action had been taken three weeks earlier when Beijing alerted the WHO. Yet this is also a battle to protect Xi at a time of potential weakness. There have been unusual ripples of dissent over his handling of the virus, along with hints that some party princelings harbour doubts over his leadership. There is also a looming recession that may stymie the scale of growth promised to the masses, hitting their promise to double the size of the economy in a decade and banish extreme poverty in time for next year’s centenary of the party’s birth on a boat in a Zhejiang lake. These are insanely challenging times everywhere with pandemic raging. It has been made worse by the fact it strikes the planet at a moment when a pair of pugnacious nationalists are in charge of the two mightiest nations. The fuss over the WHO, botching a pandemic from the start due to its boss being a Beijing stooge, exposes how China has been seeking stealthily to influence multilateral bodies. Yet in truth it is only mimicking the West’s traditional tactics at a time when many key democratic nations — including our own — have lost confidence in their own values and look so confused about their beliefs. Only the wildest of optimists might dare hope that we will emerge from this sudden plunge into darkness with renewed strength. We must accept China’s rise, not fight it nor fear it. We should see their concerns, work with their firms, learn from their culture, understand their politics. But at the same time we should follow the lead set by Australia and stand firm in the face of bullying — especially when it comes from Communist Party chiefs trying to escape blame for global pain. Yes, they are far from alone in making deadly mistakes over this disease, as we know to our cost in Britain. But their bungling is a consequence of autocracy, It almost certainly inflicted and most definitely intensified the suffering that has infected the whole world. We need to find the truth if possible. For as the great George Orwell wrote, whoever controls the past controls the future.
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SubscribeFortunately we, the ‘West’ control the past, but not for much longer unless decisive action is taken now.
The US military has at best a ten year nuclear advantage over China. At worst, five.
Although Bismarck cautioned against a preemptive war as being like “committing suicide because of the fear of death”, this is different. This is the Darwinian Imperative, to decide who controls the Planet, the West or China.
The pseudo socialist mantra, force fed to all our children and others, is that of equality; We all have the same aspirations, values, morals etc
This is utter tosh and terrifyingly banal.
As Pliny (the younger) said centuries ago, “nothing is more unequal than equality itself “.
We, who have basked in the munificence of the Pax Americana for the past seventy years must now stand up and be counted.
“basked in the munificence of the Pax Americana”
Yes, we must brush aside any responsibility for killing half the population of North Korea, millions of deaths and on-going chemically-induced birth defects in Vietnam, millions of deaths and apocalyptic destruction in the Middle East and the decades of ensnaring and deposing popularly elected leaders around the world.
Correct.
A preemptive war against China is an insane idea. The whole world would be affected and millions would die. For what end? Who has the right to “control the planet”? No one.
Hardly insane as the the countdown has just begun. We are, as Dr Richard Dawkins annunciated years ago, and I am sure you recall a (nasty) species of African Ape.
Our entire history has been predicated on violence. A Darwinian struggle for survival and supremacy. It was ever thus.
This maybe the ultimate conflict or at the very least the one that defines human history for the next thousand years.
Your approach is alarming in all sorts of ways and even quoting Pliny, the Younger, does not make it sound intelligent. I assume perhaps wrongly that you would be in favour of the lower orders eating cheap hormone and antibiotic laden US meat. US has caused havoc in S America ,, Middle East, Vietnam of which you seem remarkably ignorant, but perhaps you are aware of this and it does not impinge on your idea of ‘ the munificence of the Pax Americana’ .
What have your (wildly exaggerated and inflammatory) accusations of America got to do with the issue. An attempt to excuse the excuse the behaviour of the CCP? America did bad things so it’s OK for China? On that basis, perhaps, recalling Genghis Kan, anything is OK.
There are very real problems looming; China is a rampant imperialist, totalitarian fascist state and a real threat to our freedoms, our way of life and national sovereignty. It’s not just the poor and weak states that are now under the oppressive thumb of Beijing, there is covert (and often blatant) control and influence of our governments and universities.
It’s not so much a moral issue, it’s an existential threat we can no longer choose to ignore. The best time to have confronted reality was twenty years ago; the second best time is now.
Did you understand the quote from Pliny? It doesn’t sound like it.
You then descend into a completely sterile anti American rant that totally avoids my proposition that China is a global menace and must be dealt with forthwith.
No armed conflict will take place. The UN and a nuclear armed Russia will heavily oppose it.
Russia has far more to fear from China than most. Should it be asinine enough to try to intervene it will find even its nuclear forces, including the so called White Sea Bastions are totally inadequate.
The UN is of no consequence, and your comment reminds me of what Comrade Joe Stalin said when remarking on the military prowess of the Vatican.
All historical precedents point to war, and we owe it to our children and grandchildren not to fall into the well oiled trap of appeasement. Do you not agree?
The phrase, ‘if you want to know who controls you, look to see who you are most afraid to offend’ seems relevant. The West’s hard- fought freedoms must be maintained, and simply bending over and taking what is given in the quest for harmony ( and to maintain trading favours) appears to only invite scorn- dog doesn’t have to bite, but it can still growl. Even the most benevolent dictator will at some stage be replaced by a tyrant, and the systems being set up in China will allow for a particularly repressive regime. Extend that control worldwide, and global society would be hellish.
A reasonable albeit unenlightening summary i.e. it tells us nothing we didn’t know. Until this:
‘We must accept China’s rise, not fight it nor fear it. We should see their concerns, work with their firms, learn from their culture, understand their politics.’
Now, I’m the first to admit that I’ve been a little slow to wake up to the true nature of China, although I’d pretty much got there before C-19 hit us. And if you ask me they are like Nazi Germany times 20 combined with a vastly more intelligent and productive version of the USSR. In other words, terrifying.
It was either Niall Ferguson or Victor Davis Hanson who said the other day that C-19 might have come 10 years too early for the Chinese. Because in another 10 years they would have totally owned and infiltrated the west – and everywhere else. C-19 might just have woken us up to a giant and inescapable trap into which we were sleepwalking.
An interesting read. Until I got to “infantile president”. This knee jerk anti trump rhetoric is pointless here, out of place and distracting. So I gave up, for the second time for the same reason on an Unheard article.
You have a good product with a great readership, (for example see Mark Corby’s comment below), why are you blowing it on metropolitan-bubble sniping?
Thank you for that. Found that comment to be unnecessary and irrelevant. Besides, it was the US President who first raised the warming about China.
No doubt that the free world must now curtail the CCP’s imperialist ambitions while we still have the power to do so. If their economic wings are clipped, the Chinese people, with whom we have no argument, may deal with their oppressors themselves. We must not corner the Xi rat, as the USA did to Japan, and provoke a modern Pearl Harbor .
“We must accept China’s rise, not fight it nor fear it. We should see their concerns, work with their firms, learn from their culture, understand their politics.”
In other words, simply acknowledge the fact that China is a bully that we’re powerless to resist so we may as well abandon any thought we might of had of preserving freedoms and rights that we’ve fought and died for over the centuries.
China is in charge, we’ll just have to stop crying and get used to doing things their way.
Not my personal choice but apparently there it is.
I, for one, couldn’t give a toss about China’s concerns, nor do I wish to learn from their culture of deference, subservience, and drone-like obedience.
It makes sense to hit China where it would hurt – economically. Stop buying Chinese made goods, they are frequently poor quality anyway. Don’t buy cheap Chinese clothes. Don’t allow China to get involved in infrastructure. The U.K. and the West generally needs to be much mor self sufficient.
‘We must accept Nazi Germany’s rise, not fight it nor fear it. We should see their concerns, work with their firms, learn from their culture, understand their politics.’
You are Lord Halifax and I claim my five pounds.
I think everyone would agree investigation is needed about SARS-Cov2 in China in the start of this affair. Howeverfor today’s situation i think we should look nearer home. Many vested interests have shown themselves in the last 2 months must accept their share of the blame for slump that will rival 1991-4 as well as the many unpleasant side effects of “lockdown”: Some welcomed the virus as a safety valve for overheated financial markets, a more controllable alternative to 2008’s crisis of financial confidence and cliff edge fall. Those who think history is made by white men on horses (or tanks) who slay dragons and see this as their “Churchill” moment. Those on the left or green end of politics who rejoiced in the death and destruction as the harbinger of their utopias. “Scientists” whose source data remains hidden and whose results cannot be replicated by others. Even NHS workers and cops who danced in formation on youtube to celebrate empty medical wards and streets. If this panic proves anything it’s the “tragedy of the commons” and a dash away from reason rivalling the 1930s. Assuming the grown -ups re- assert control after this nadir is reached we can find out more about what actually happened. Meanwhile can we have a minute’s silence or perhaps a minute’s death metal for the 280,000 souls lost to H1N1 in 2009-10? https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/…
Good article – and in principle I agree with the idea of a comprehensive review. China sees opportunities as a result of the massive social and economic damage done globally. China didn’t, by all available evidence, spread COVID-19, but it is more than happy with the havoc it has wrought, especially in the US. However, in practice, Morrison is grandstanding to swell his own inflated delusions about him being a great leader of Churchillian proportions, which doesn’t necessarily detract from the basic proposition, but it won’t hurt to get a sense of what is motivating his comments – given he is driven by building his personal brand, but is woefully short on leadership skills and any kind of empathy, in my opinion. What is equally interesting however is that many countries, including the UK and Australia had previously done reviews of pandemics, several in the last 3 to 5 years – and completely ignored the findings, which indicated neither country was ready to deal with a widespread viral outbreak.
Having just finished reading ‘Unmade in China: The Hidden Truth About China’s Economic Miracle’ (2015), it is hard to see China’s bellicose behaviour as anything other than an enormous bluff.
It is a poor country of about 1.3 Billion people – one million of them living in caves, one billion living in abject poverty, and all of them needing to be fed – while China is incapable of manufacturing anything safely, least of all food. The risk to its own people’s, and our, health and wealth is systemic. Who would one think to be more in need of the West than China? No-one.
GDP is a made up number, as are consumption figures and everything else. Their own officials don’t believe them, yet the IMF and World Bank take them at face value and the lies trickle down to politicians and pundits and feed the myth of a powerful economic and political juggernaut. What rubbish. The introduction to this book alone is hair-raising and educational in equal measure. Do have a look at it – the perspective to be gained is invaluable.
If they are bluffing, it is a very, very expensive bluff! China spends 300% more on so called ‘Defence’ than India, a country of very similar size and complexity, why?
UK apologists such as Peter Nolan at the “other place” maintain that historically, China has not had expansionists ambitions, unlike former European Powers. Nonsense, Qing China was for example, very aggressive in the 18th century.
A major facet of Mongoloid races is the concept of ‘Loss of Face’. China, and in fact the whole Far East, suffered massive ‘Loss of Face’ at the hands of European and American interlopers in the 19th century. Not unnaturally China now seeks revenge for this era of the so called Unequal Treaties.
Five years have passed since the publication of ‘Unmade in China’. They have undoubtedly improved their industrial and manufacturing standards. They may have Nuclear parity within five years.
Can we really afford to think they are bluffing?
Notwithstanding that 5 years have passed since the book was published, what it says is still relevant, viz. that China has not the capability to organize itself into a rational, market oriented or safe producer of anything, because of the centralized control structure mandated by the CCP. Too much corruption, no legal framework, too much adherence to the avoidance of ‘loss of face’. Can we really believe that China has caught up with Western standards of productivity and safety in a mere 5 years? I would say not. As for their nuclear capacity, stealing nuclear reactor specs from the US and EU does not equate to being able to reproduce them, far from in fact. It has had to rely on those external actors to build its reactors but, as ever, the risk comes from poor or non-existent management standards which endanger us all. Their involvement in this of all industries is horrifying – that the UK has allowed them into its nuclear industry is simply beyond belief. Likewise the Huawei decision.
Agree re the historical aggression of China, and the reasons for, and consequences of, the Opium Wars alone are incentive enough to exact revenge for that loss of face. Yet, it is that fear of loss of face that prevents China from becoming a cohesive entity insofar as its industrial and agricultural base is concerned. Corruption is systemic as a consequence, in large part, of this fear. As for food – nearly a third of this vast country has been subject to desertification – further disabling its ability to feed itself. And so on, and so on.
The picture you paint is of a third world country on the brink of imploding. I completely agree, but it is still a clear and present danger because it is also a Nuclear Power. That rather changes everything!
I have no doubt that the USN will be able to blow them off the planet, but it will not be able to stop the vehicle launched, medium range, nuclear ballistic missiles hitting the ‘in theatre allies’, eg, Taiwan, Japan, S Korea etc
Thus upwards of 200 million lives will be under threat
The simple question is, can we tolerate China any longer?
morrison, the man who you hold up as the voice of reason, is a rightwing populist a bit like Bolsonaro. the timing of his call for an investigation of the source of the outbreak shows he was put up to it. it coincides with trump’s thuggish enforcer saying there is “massive evidence” the virus was produced in a Wuhan lab, i.e. pure conspiracy theory. small wonder the chinese scoffed at it!
The article’s author is dishonest in not noting that the Australian Prime Minister is a decided right winger, taking part in an international campaign orchestrated from Washington to deflect attention from the failure of most of the world’s capitalist governments to prepare for and respond to the pandemic promptly and correctly. The Aussie PM is, for example, a climate change denier who during last summer’s fires downplayed their importance, was slow to respond and refused the connection with worldwide climate change.
As for China, it is well known that local Chinese party leaders more than failed to respond properly for weeks, and that this is an expression of both its politically Stalinist bureaucratic rule and the centrifugal tendency in many large bureaucratically-led organizations. I know the latter well from the polio eradication campaign in India, where NHS doctors were sending potential cases to the next district rather than risk looking like they were not doing a good job in their weekly case numbers reports.
Not a dreaded right winger, how terrible!
Morrison is quite correct, there is no causal relationship or even correlation between AGW and the recent Aussie bush fires; they have been a feature of Australia for millennia.
Australia has one of the worlds lowest covid death and contagion rates, Morrison certainly has no motivation for deflection in that regard. We in New Zealand, with a (dreaded?) left wing government and similar, if not a little higher, death rate are also mightily concerned about China’s failings in this pandemic and their wider influence and imperialism. We too are supporting an investigation, hopefully outside of UN control and influence.
A most noble sentiment, if I may
say so; That an investigation may solve the China Problem.
I hate to be the bearer of sad tidings, but it won’t.
The CCP is a particularly poisonous and unusual cocktail of Marxist-Fascist ideologies. As has been said before by others, it makes Hitler ‘look like Noddy’.
It is not, as some imbeciles in the West maintain a benign, misunderstood Panda.
Why for example is China’s so called Defence budget over three times that of India’s, a country of similar size and strategic needs?
It is time for the West to awake from its Chinese dream, blow away the miasma that clouded its better judgement and prepare for battle.The die is cast.
I read somewhere that Australia’s eucalyptus trees were prone to self-combustion and are now suspected of being responsible for the fires. Wonder if that’s true…
Though I approve of the sentiment and it would be nice if we did have some idea of the process of the development of the outbreak I think we can be certain it was a natural process as opposed to a lab creation as scientists have for the most part confirmed, I think we have to be very careful of how we proceed on this issue.
I am also pretty certain from reports that China delayed initial investigations as it is for historical reasons a paranoid and secretive society. It feared the impact on the economy and probably the political ramifications. But once the outbreak was confirmed their behaviour was pretty straightforward and effective as was that of WHO.
I do not think we can brush under the carpet the conflict that Trump started with China with his succession of trade wars and therefore it is not a clear or fair atmosphere under which these investigations could be launched as hostility exists from the outset. Given also he continual problems in Hong Kong which China always assumes is foreign intervention. The old Soviet Union was similarly paranoid. A point blank refusal from the Chinese is no surprise. They will not allow foreign observers. Morrison also is extremely right wing and his hostility to China as that of Trump is ideological.
The best process is to let the matter rest, show friendliness and concern to China and try to help their processes in the future. The opposite will yield no advantages to the world at the present time I am certain.
There is some acknowledgement of the failure of UK government which is leading to C19 becoming endemic in UK leading to huge loss of life and economic collapse that could have been avoided if the herd immunity approach had not been recklessly followed. I am perhaps wrongly left with the impression that like Trump & some Tory MPs the desire to absolve Boris/Cummings’ UK and Trump’s USA governments of failing to protect the lives of its citizens compared to other G 20 countries is to blame China. While I do acknowledge that the virus initially came from China, UK & USA had ample warning . S. Korea & China contained their outbreaks of the deadly virus while UK & USA citizens were told that it will only kill off old & infirm ,who would die anyway.
“if the herd immunity approach had not been recklessly followed”
I understood you were in lockdown in the UK and pursued the same strategy, virtually to the day, we did in New Zealand. What are you on about Louise.
How else would you protect people from disease other than by “herd immunity “?
Vaccine and inoculation to create herd immunity is the reason we are no longer dying from smallpox, diphtheria, polio, measles etc. etc.