林德宜：攻击中国的幕后黑手

新冠疫情带来的其中一个现象就是疫情政治化。这现象对普通民众来说并不容易察觉，因为他们每天通过媒体关注到的是，直接与他们健康和社会经济问题有关的新闻。

但是，对于敏锐的观察者而言，新冠疫情危机让政府以及相关单位，不管是国内或国际层面上，提供了一个有利于其政治利益的时机。当下，一些西方国家的政府和媒体就利用新冠疫情，攻击中国和中国人，以捞取政治利益。

这情况并不足为奇。实际上，基于以下几个原因，这反而是预料中事。

首先，西方国家的政府，特别是七国集团（G7）的政府及其一些非西方盟国，特别是日本，将中国视为对其在全球体系，经济和国际关系的主导地位带来威胁。

特朗普曾赞赏中国

其次，随著中国崛起为全球工业和制造业主力，加上其日益强大的军事力量，也令西方国家有所警戒，尤其是美国。尽管美国还是世界第一强国，但由于无力压制中国日益增长的全球影响力，过去十年来美国在全球政治和经济中的主导地位也受到削弱。

第三，中美之间不断扩大的经济和贸易失衡，以及某程度上，中国和一些欧元区国家也有类似的经贸失衡，这引起了这些社会的仇外情绪和民族主义的崛起。尤其随著政治人物和游说集团相互竞争，通过煽动舆论对抗“外敌”来提高本身声望时，与中国的贸易冲突课题也逐成为日常新闻的焦点。

在新冠疫情中，追击中国者中，最显著的就是美国总统特朗普。但许多人不知道的是，特朗普在新冠病毒于中国武汉爆发时，对中国所做的努力是非常支持和认可的。

当西方许多媒体谴责中国政府为遏制新冠疫情扩散，以“严酷，严苛和令人无法接受”的手段，对武汉市实施“封城”时，特朗普在1月24日的一则推文中，赞扬中国和习主席的努力：“中国一直在努力遏制新冠病毒传播。美国高度赞赏他们的努力和透明度。一切都会顺利的。我特别要代表美国人民感谢习主席！”

接著，在2月7日的新闻上，特朗普说：“昨晚，我与（中国）习近平主席进行了很好的交谈，我们谈论了──主要是关于新冠病毒。他们非常努力在克服这疫情，我认为他们做得很专业。他们与世界保持著联系—世界组织，也包括（美国）疾病控制和预防中心（CDC）。我们正在合作，世界卫生组织正与他们合作，美国疾病控制和预防中心也与他们合作。昨晚我与习主席进行了一场很好的交谈。这是一个艰难的处境。我认为他们做得很好。”

在2月29日的新冠病毒工作队新闻发布会上，特朗普说，“中国似乎正在取得巨大进展。他们的（感染）人数下降了……我认为我们与中国的关系非常好。我们刚刚达成了一项重大（贸易）协议。我们正与中国进行另一项贸易协议谈判，这是非常重大的。我们一直在紧密合作。在新冠疫情上，他们一直在与我们交流，我们也一直在与他们沟通。”

实际上，美国著名的政治新闻网站Politico，就整理了一份清单，详细列出今年初，特朗普公开赞扬中国防疫努力的列表。有兴趣了解特朗普早前正面肯定，中国为遏制新冠疫情所做的努力的读者，可浏览相关文章〈在新冠疫情防疫上，特朗普称赞了中国15次〉。

由赞转贬归咎责任

可是，当特朗普清楚了解新冠病毒与普通流感病毒不一样，并且担心这将影响到他在11月总统选举中的连任机会时，特朗普及其支持者改变了方向，对中国和中国政府在疫情防控上的称赞，几乎一夜之间转变了。

第一个现象是，特朗普在3月19日的每日新闻发布会上决定使用“中国病毒”一词代替公认的新冠病毒（COVID-19）的缩写，从而将美国因疫情扩散，而导致的公共卫生危机和经济损失责任归咎于中国。

尽管，特朗普把美国疫情扩散及影响的责任，推卸给另一个国家，但他使用“中国病毒”一词，立即激起了对亚裔人的反感和仇恨，他不得不迅速撤回有关的字眼。

如今，特朗普的战略是更全面的，要将中国作为此次疫情扩散的替罪羊。该策略的主要手段就是编制大规模的虚假讯息和不实消息，目的是定调，谁应被归咎于导致此次的危机，谁应对这场给美国带来前所未有的人口伤亡和社会经济损失的危机，负上责任。

1月21日，美国确认了第一宗的新冠病例。三个月后，即4月18日，据美国约翰霍普金斯大学冠状病毒资源中心称，美国被感染的人数已超过75万人，而死亡人数也接近4万，是世界首位。

对于美国应对新冠疫情的缓慢、无能、笨拙和管理不善，特朗普总统负有最终责任，而不是中国。大多数美国人和世界上多数国家都知道这一点。遗憾的是，依然有人在特朗普每日新闻发布会上，没有看到“国王新衣”，没看到国王赤裸裸游行的丑剧。

 

（《攻击中国的幕后黑手》原文：Covid 19: Who’s Behind China Bashing ）

One key outcome of the covid 19 pandemic is its politicization. This development is not readily visible to the ordinary public because of the immediate health and socio-economic concerns that appear in the news media on a daily basis.

However it is clear to astute observers that the pandemic crisis provides governments, and other stake players at the national and international levels an opportunity to take advantage of it for their political interests.

Today the Covid 19 issue is being used by some western governments and the western media generally to score political points against China and the Chinese.

This is not surprising. In fact it is to be expected for several reasons.

Firstly, western governments especially those in G7 and some of their non-western allies notably Japan see China as a threat to their dominance of the global system, economy and international relations.

Secondly, the rapid development of China as a global industrial and manufacturing force together with its increasing military power has caused alarm bells to ring. These alarm bells have been activated especially in the United States. Although the US has been the number one world power, the last decade has seen its dominant role in global politics and economy undermined by its inability to match the growing Chinese influence and presence all over the world.

Thirdly, the widening economic and trade imbalance between the United States and China, and to a lesser extent that also found between China and some Eurozone countries, has given rise to xenophobic and nationalist concerns. The trade conflict with China has increasingly come to dominate everyday news with political leaders and lobbies vying with each other to increase their popularity by fanning public opinion against an external enemy..

Trump as China Basher Chief

The most prominent amongst the China bashers arising from the pandemic has been President Trump of the United States. What’s not known to many is that Trump’s initial response to China’s efforts following the virus outbreak in Wuhan was very supportive and encouraging.

In a tweet on 24 January when many in the western mass media had condemned the “harsh, draconian and unacceptable” efforts of the Chinese government to lockdown the Wuhan city population to contain the pandemic outbreak, Trump hailed China and President Xi in the following terms:

“China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”

In press remarks on 7 February he said:”Late last night, I had a very good talk with President Xi, and we talked about — mostly about the coronavirus. They’re working really hard, and I think they are doing a very professional job. They’re in touch with World — the World — World Organization. CDC also. We’re working together. But World Health is working with them. CDC is working with them. I had a great conversation last night with President Xi. It’s a tough situation. I think they’re doing a very good job.”

On Feb. 29 during a Coronavirus Task Force press conference he said“China seems to be making tremendous progress. Their numbers are way down. … I think our relationship with China is very good. We just did a big trade deal. We’re starting on another trade deal with China — a very big one. And we’ve been working very closely. They’ve been talking to our people, we’ve been talking to their people, having to do with the virus.”

A prominent US policy platform, Politico, has, in fact, compiled a list of times that Trump publicly praised China for its efforts to prevent the spread of the pandemic in the early months of 2020.

Readers interested in finding out about Trump’s early positive assessment of China’s efforts to contain the pandemic spread can find it in the article “15 times Trump praised China as coronavirus was spreading across the globe “ (see https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736)

Almost overnight after singing praises of China and the Chinese government, once it became clear to Trump that Covid 19 was not like any ordinary influenza virus, and amidst concern that it would cost him his reelection in the coming November presidential polls, Trump and his supporters have changed direction.

The first sign of this was when Trump in his daily press conference on 19 March decided to use the term ”Chinese virus” in place of the accepted shorthand for the COVID-19 virus so as to put the blame on China for the rapidly rising health and economic virus toll in the US.

However while blame could be easily targeted at another country, his use of the term “Chinese virus” immediately inflamed antipathy and hatred against Asians and he had to quickly backtrack from use of that term.

In its place now is a more comprehensive strategy aimed at targeting China as the scapegoat in the pandemic. A major part of this strategy is the orchestration of a massive disinformation and misinformation campaign aimed at re-writing who is to be blamed for the severity of the crisis and who are responsible for its unprecedented human and socio-economic toll in the US.

The first covid 19 case was confirmed in the United States on 21 January. Three months later by 18 April, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center over three quarters of a million Americans have been stricken by the virus and the nation is the first in the world in terms of  deaths with close to 40,000 deaths.

It is President Trump who has ultimate responsibility for the slow, ineffective, bungling and mismanaged response to covid 19 in the United States, not China. The majority of Americans and most of the rest of the world know this. It is a pity that there are some who do not see the Emperor parading  around with no clothes during his daily press conference.