Ottawa/London/Prague, 14. 4. 2020
One hundred China experts and senior political figures have signed an open letter describing the Chinese Communist Party government’s cover up of COVID-19 as “China’s Chernobyl moment”. The group of signatories, who include some of the world’s leading authorities on Chinese politics, law, and modern history, say that the Chinese government’s rule by fear endangers Chinese citizens—and the world.
The open letter by these leading China watchers and concerned political leaders responds to another open letter released by a group of China-based establishment
academics who accused critical voices of “politicizing” the COVID-19 pandemic. This narrative has also been frequently repeated by CCP government official spokespeople, and also recently, by the head of the WHO. The CCP government has launched a crackdown on Chinese journalists reporting critically on the COVID-19 crisis and it is now censoring scientific research on the origins of the pandemic.
The co-signed international public figures, analysts, and China watchers argue that:
„The roots of the pandemic stem from the initial cover-up and mishandling of the spread of COVID-19 by CCP authorities in Wuhan.“
„Under the infiuence of the CCP government, the World Health Organisation initially downplayed the pandemic. Taiwanese health oficials allege that WHO ignored their alerts of human-to-human transmission in late December. Under pressure from the CCP, democratic Taiwan—which has coped with the pandemic in exemplary fashion —is currently excluded from the WHO.“
The China watchers and other signatories say that “China’s Chernobyl moment is a self-infiicted wound. The CCP silenced Chinese doctors who wanted to warn other health professionals during the early stage of the outbreak.“
The experts urge foreign governments to “engage in a critical evaluation of the impact of CCP policies on the lives of Chinese citizens and citizens around the world“.
The letter is signed by one hundred distinguished experts in the field of politics, history, law, and Chinese studies. Members of the European, Australian, Estonian and Lithuanian Parliament as well as Members of the U.K. House of Commons and House of Lords also signed the open letter. It was edited and translated by Dr Andreas Fulda from the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham and is hosted by three security policy think-tanks, the Ottawa-based Macdonald Laurier Institute, the London-based Henry Jackson Society and the Prague-based European Values Center for Security Policy.
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This project was funded in part through a U.S. Embassy grant. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the implementers/authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Government.
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