There is a certain majesty to China’s move to command the world stage. As the number of infected and dead rise worldwide, China is stepping up and saying ‘We have got this. We mitigated as was necessary and we have controlled the coronavirus epidemic.’
So far, the results back the assertion. Their economy is starting up again and, filled with confidence, are now sending experts to aid other nations in the grip of the virus, such as Iran and Italy. They are even building hospitals for them.
The Chinese did it.
And they deserve recognition.
China went into full battle with the virus and has come out ahead (South Korea has done the same).
The Chinese imposed severe restrictions on movement, mobilized resources, and got the job done. My hat off to them.
The Chinese do not deserve, to have the US try to devalue them by calling the virus the Wuhan virus. What that shows is how envious the present American leadership is. Trump and company had ample time to take the necessary steps to prevent the wide spread of the disease but instead wasted the opportunity. Is there a word for it? Yes. It is Denial. Massive Denial.
Preoccupied with lesser and partisan concerns, i.e. the building of the wall, his impeachment, Mr Trump could not think ahead to what was looming and how it endangered the lives of Americans. He could not bother to summon the multitude of experts the nation has at its disposal, because he needed to attend the political rallies that he requires to prop up his confidence.
Surely, the crowds chanted vigorously, Make America Great Again! just as dark clouds drifted menacingly in our direction.
The preoccupation with getting elected, prevented the president from hearing the advice that would have led to us having the necessary masks and testing kits and ventilators. But to think in those terms, requires a mind that is free to rise above partisan concerns and look beyond.
Mr Trump could not do that.
As of today, our nation has had nearly 4 thousand deaths from the virus, a figure larger than China’s, with a population 4 times the size of ours. And the forecast of future deaths is ominous.
Consumed as we are with tending to our own, we must now cede the stage to China, and we must because they were vastly more effective than we have been.
It would do us a world of good to recognize it.
It would do us a world of good to state openly, that China has done a most competent job at saving lives. Even as they segregate Uighurs and curtail freedoms to their citizens, which stains their standing as a leading nation.
And yet, as things stand, it would do us a world of good to be frank and upright and recognize that, in combatting the virus, they have done a better job than we have.
As we endeavor to follow the instructions to slow the spread of the disease, we will soon limit the lurid escalation of the death rate. There are already signs that the rate of infection is beginning to slow.
But our economy has suffered a major hit, many businesses will not reopen and unemployment is soaring.
Who knows how long this contraction will last.
China’s economy, by contrast, is revving up and, for now, will be the dominant world economy.
It will do us a world of good, our leaders foremost, to recognize it.
It wasn’t long ago, that nations in need would have looked to our country for urgent assistance.
Preoccupied with divisive concerns, we have shirked from the world, and now we see the cost.
There’s a price to pay for being short sighted.
A price to pay in lives and in prestige.
That matters.
Oscar Valdes 