Made in China has been a familiar label on products for years, but it was not until March 2020 that the world learned of the perils that tag might entail. When the very first case of COVID-19 struck in Wuhan, China, the Communist authorities could have taken steps that would have prevented the loss of, to date, over 200,000 lives. Instead, the Communists did what they always do: they covered up the problem, liedabout it, and denied its existence. And today, the world is paying the price. China with the help of the World Health Organization (WHO) turned the COVID-19 from a preventable, local outbreak to a global pandemic. It is very clear that from the beginning of the crisis the Geneva-based organization provided a cover for China. WHO even praised the Chinese government for its response to the virus.The World Health Organization is designed to “work worldwide to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable,” according to its website, but its agency depends on various “stakeholders.” We should be realistic and honest about the corruption and leadership of an organization that is deeply problematic. The WHO employs thousands of dedicated health care workers in 194 countries. However, just as the five permanent members of United Nations Security Council cannot represent the entire world and needs reform, so the WHO should be restructured. The first reform would be to make sure the organization is led by health professionals who have the power to be independent and resist pressure. The WHO is supposed to be different in that its values reflect the principles of human rights, universality, and equity, believing that “the health of all people is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security and is dependent on the fullest cooperation of individuals and countries.” Evidence shows a different image.
In early January Taiwan warned the World Health Organization about human to human transmission of Covid-19 with no response. On January 14, the WHO attested to China’s claim that its officials had not found any human to human transmission, and subsequently waited too long to declare a pandemic; WHO’s Director General consistently stood by China, causing even Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio to find the symbiotic relationship between Xi Jinping and Tedros “ deeply disturbing,” given the grand scale of Chinese investment in Ethiopia Tedros’s role there prior to his current position. In spite of the WHO’s receiving information from Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as news of whistleblower doctors in Wuhan being threatened with jail time, the WHO failed to act. It should have investigated the reports but did not. Did WHO demand access to the region around Wuhan and its hospitals? Did it question why US health professionals from the Center for Disease Control were denied entrance?
Now, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is leading the WHO, an arm of the United Nations, in presiding over the anti-defamation for China’s oppressive regime as it attempts to shirk responsibility for the global pandemic. Extolling the Chinese leadership for its transparency, Tedros deceived the world, and his deception cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Ironically, he holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Community Health from the University of Nottingham and a Master of Science (MSc) in Immunology of Infectious Diseases from the University of London. Considered an academic, if not medical, expert in the field of infectious diseases, he had to know the potential for a pandemic, yet he white washed the tombs of the impending disaster and still given press conferences making them outwardly appear beautiful.
Ironically, the first week in February this year the 146th session of the Executive Board convened at its headquarters in Geneva to agree on the agenda and resolutions for the World Health Assembly to consider in May. Among this year’s topics were: “WHO’s response in severe, large-scale emergencies; research and development for diseases with epidemic potential.” Also, ironic, as of today due to the Coronavirus, it is “unclear what arrangements may be made be put in place a hold on the May Assembly.” Both Tedros and his organization have remained silent about the 34-year old Chinese doctor, Dr. Li Wenliang, who first warned of an outbreak of the virus and whom the Chinese government punished. The WHO was deafeningly silent when later the world learned that Dr. Wenliang had died. China first lied and then refused to share epidemiological data on the disease such as the number of cases and their clinical symptoms. Then, as always, they blamed the U.S military personnel who supposedly visited the Hubei province. Further, after the complete quarantine of Wuhan, China did not study the disease’s spread among various subpopulations. Now they are claiming Wuhan has no new cases since early April and has discharged all its corona patients from the hospital. Initially, even the death toll was very low, but after President Trump questioned the Chinese on this number, the Communist regime in usual fashion added some more deaths as subterfuge, despite the Chinese whistleblowers reporting that death toll was much higher.
China uses disinformation to protect their brand. Now China is sending masks around the world gaining sympathy while spreading their propaganda, including here in the Philippines by composing a song and video called “One Sea.“ The Chinese embassy in Manila says it is a friendship song dedicated to health workers from both countries and celebrating “ a new era of partnership “ between the China and Philippines. Yet, the video may backfire as many Philippinos express “dislikes” because of language implications. In deft maneuvers, Chinese apologists ally with the liberal media and the corrupt WHO organization worldwide.
In spite of all the evidence to the contrary, Chinese authorities are weaving a false counternarrative in which China was actually the victim of a foreign virus that it quickly moved to contain. And the World Health Organization is helping them do it.
In February, WHO’s Director General urged that measures to curtail travel “unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade.” Tedros praised China‘s transparency and showcased the country as a model response even though China covered the outbreak and then concealed its severity. As another disregard for human lives, the Communist regime forced doctors who discovered Covid-19 in December to destroy proof of the virus, as the UK’s The Sunday Times reported. The President Xi Jinping’s administration also punished the doctors who tried to warn the public about the epidemic in the early stages and suppressed information about the virus. When President Trump referred to the COVID-19 as a Chinese or foreign virus, the World Health Organization rebuked Him and even US media called the label racist.
But chaos often brings unforeseen opportunities. Amid national and local challenges to lessen the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all grappling with the new way of life. Everything operates differently now, from grocery purchases to our work lives, and each affected area brings new interactions and opportunities. Further, an unveiling of the Chinese government and of its disastrous disregard for universal values demonstrates that the world should investigate China and World Health Organization to instruct the Communist regime in valuing human lives; if they are found the guilty, they should pay reparations.
If China had not lied and the WHO had not varnished over China’s public relations by parroting its lies, many grieving families would still have loved ones, workers and parents would not have experienced lockdowns, and the outbreak might have been curtailed. The world could have had more time to prepare. Now, at the least, the Director General of the World Health Organization must be investigated and, if found complicit, he must resign.Dr. Aland Mizell is with the MCI, SETBI and a regular Mindanao Times.You may email the author at:aland_mizell2@hotmail.com
