Any Excuse the Bash the West - Letter published in Sri Lankan newspaper

On Thursday February 6, 2020, The Island newspaper carried an article titled “Stop harassing the Chinese”, which quoted at length a statement issued by the Sri Lanka-China Friendship Association. It criticized the mistreatment of Chinese visitors in Sri Lanka and asked Sri Lankans to act with humanity and compassion.  All well and good.

But, what disturbed me was the following statement: “the western media has done its best to create a fear psychosis”. And here’s why.

Before I get to my point, let me explain why I am keenly following the coronavirus outbreak in China and Hong Kong. I lived and taught in Hong Kong for 20 years, and still keep in touch with some former students who have themselves become academics in Hong Kong. I also taught more than one hundred students from Mainland China, and am in contact with a handful of them. I worry about them. I went through the SARS outbreak in 2003 while living in Hong Kong, and experienced the fear that gripped the city and the economic collapse that followed. SARS arrived mysteriously in Hong Kong because Mainland China did not disclose the spreading virus in nearby Guangdong Province, and 299 innocent Hong Kongers died as a result.

I ask my readers to glance at the following excerpts from the same daily newspaper over a two-week period:

1.     “Hong Kong infectious disease experts are urging the government to take draconian measures against the spread of the deadly new virus from the mainland Chinese city of Wuhan, citing research estimating that 44,000 patients could be infected there – far higher than official figures of 2700.” (January 27)

2.    “The official number of coronavirus cases in Wuhan might not reflect the true scale of the crisis as there may be many patients who are undiagnosed and not reported, medical experts said. Given that there is also a shortage of coronavirus testing kits, the figure could be much higher than it actually is.”

3.    “Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert from Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the official tally in Wuhan could be ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ because it only reflected the acute cases where patients were admitted to hospital.”

4.    “Li Lanjuan, a member of the (China's) National Health Commission’s expert panel on the coronavirus, told state broadcaster CCTV on Monday that since there were not enough testing kits in Wuhan, ‘not everyone can get tested’.”  

5.    “A doctor at the Union Hospital in Wuhan, who declined to be identified, said staff could only test about 100 patients a day, and they had to wait 48 hours for the results. ‘When the National Health Commission announces the numbers, they’re already two days old,’ the doctor said. ‘We also have to turn away patients with mild symptoms, knowing that many of them will return later [when their condition worsens]. But we don’t have the space in the testing centre, or the hospital beds.’”

6.    “Chinese scholar blames Xi Jinping, party for not controlling virus outbreak”

I could go on.

These news items and dire warnings did not come from the Guardian, the Washington Post, or The New York Times. They are from Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP), which, by the way, is owned by Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, a loyal Mainland Chinese citizen and a card-carrying member of the Chinese Communist Party. This is not fear psychosis generated by western media.

SCMP reports that, this morning, Dr. Li Wenliang, 34, passed away in Wuhan. On December 30, Dr. Li informed his medical classmates on an online chat group that several patients with SARS-like illnesses were quarantined at a Wuhan hospital. He was subsequently summoned to the local police and forced to sign a letter promising to make no further disclosures. “CCTV, a Communist party mouthpiece” according to SCMP, accused Dr. Li and of spreading “rumors.” Dr. Li, while treating his patients, himself contracted the coronavirus resulting in his death.

Dr. Li

A major health crisis is raging in China, and today’s “official” cases number 29,275 and the death toll is 638. Going by all I have read, the actual figures may be very much higher. This is the time to take every precaution in Sri Lanka, such as cancelling all flights to and from China, and not time to bash the West.

George Braine