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Look, I understand that you don't like China, but your claims are wildly exaggerated. > They covered it up for months and silenced any medical professionals th

Look, I understand that you don't like China, but your claims are wildly exaggerated. > They covered it up for months and silenced any medical professionals that attempted to warn the rest of the world. Here's the timeline: https://miro.medium.com/max/3584/1*r-ddYhoUtP_se6x-NOEinA.png https://miro.medium.com/max/3584/1*r-ddYhoUtP_se6x-NOEinA.pn... (see parent post: https://medium.com%2F@medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca https://medium.com%2F@medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act...) Dec 26: 4 unusual cases detected Dec 31: reported to Chinese CDC, reported to WHO (confirmed by New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-timeline.html https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-timeline.html) 5 days to report the case to national authorities and to the WHO. Okay, there are sources out there that state that the first case may be from as early as mid-November. But come on: it's a new virus. They had no idea what this is until late December. It's literally recognizing a needle in a haystack while not knowing that there's a needle. What can you reasonably expect from them? > The press has also recently tried to float the conspiracy theory that the US government planted the virus in Wuhan back in October. That's not what China claims. China says this is a possibility that the virus naturally originated from the US. Huge difference from "planting". This claim is based on DNA research of the virus, as well as timing: 1. The US seems to have older generations of the virus than China. How I have no idea how they identify virus generations but supposedly it is possible to see this in the DNA. Maybe someone who is more knowledgeable can fill in. 2. The start of the virus coincided with some military games event where the US army visited Wuhan. China is not saying the US engineered and planted the virus. It is saying the virus might naturally have started in the US, where it went undetected and brushed away as an abnormally bad flu season. Now, this is still very much speculation and there's no hard evidence, I will give you that. But the US CDC isn't exactly doing a good job with investigating the general situation in the US population. This claim by China is easily refuted so why isn't the US doing it? Again: I get that you dislike China, but that's no reason for throwing exaggerated or wrong accusations around.

jmnicolas 7y ago
> China says this is a possibility that the virus naturally originated from the US. Huge difference from "planting". This claim is based on DNA research of the virus Their theory doesn't hold : if the virus first started in the US there should have been loads of cases of "flu", hospitals flooded with patients etc like we saw in China and see in Europe now. In absolute this virus is not that deadly (what's a few thousand more deaths for a country ?), what makes it so problematic is the massive number of people needing intensive care for up to a month. I think the Chinese are trying to counter the bad propaganda they're receiving from the West so that they're not held accountable for it in the eyes of the rest of the world.
- cameldrv 7y ago
  I hear this line a lot "Countering bad propaganda", but I don't see the bad propaganda anywhere. For example, it is extremely seldom mentioned in the U.S. media that the virus emerged at a location very close to a lab that was researching hybridized SARS viruses, and the true origin of the virus is still unknown. It is known that the origin was not the seafood market. Yet, on the other side, you have high level Chinese government officials spreading completely unfounded theories that the virus originated in the U.S., and threatening to withhold pharmaceuticals unless the U.S. apologizes to and thanks China. Honestly I think that this strategy will backfire for China. If the Chinese government continues to act this aggressively, it will stir up absolute rage in the minds of the American public against China, where now there is virtually none.
  - FooBarWidget 7y ago
    I also think the "virus originated from US" is far-fetched given the available evidence (though I still think "virus didn't originate in China" is at least still plausible -- and even important to research for the sake of public health). However, you're saying that the US media "seldomly" mentions that the virus originated close to the Wuhan virus lab? I see the "virus escaped from Wuhan lab" speculation being thrown on the US social media all over the place. There's even a senator that spared no effort to spread this "news". I'm absolutely not saying that the Chinese speculation of the virus originating from the US is any better. But let's not pretend that the US is the "better man" here.
  - DiogenesKynikos 7y ago
    > Yet, on the other side, you have high level Chinese government officials spreading completely unfounded theories that the virus originated in the U.S. I see very prominent American political figures giving interviews on national Cable news channels spreading the theory about the virus escaping from a Chinese lab. > If the Chinese government continues to act this aggressively, it will stir up absolute rage in the minds of the American public against China, where now there is virtually none. Most of the messaging the Chinese government puts out, especially in English, could not in any way be characterized as "aggressive." They've been putting out some interesting documentaries about the fight against the epidemic in Wuhan, as well as feel-good reports about the aid they're sending to foreign countries. I do see a lot of "aggressive" American rhetoric going in the other direction, however. Case in point: the way that high-ranking members of the Trump administration insist on referring to CoVID-19 as a "Chinese virus." Beyond that, there's been a crazy amount of anti-Chinese sentiment stirred up in the US, ever since the beginning of the trade war.

jmnicolas 7y ago

> China says this is a possibility that the virus naturally originated from the US. Huge difference from "planting". This claim is based on DNA research of the virus Their theory doesn't hold : if the virus first started in the US there should have been loads of cases of "flu", hospitals flooded with patients etc like we saw in China and see in Europe now. In absolute this virus is not that deadly (what's a few thousand more deaths for a country ?), what makes it so problematic is the massive number of people needing intensive care for up to a month. I think the Chinese are trying to counter the bad propaganda they're receiving from the West so that they're not held accountable for it in the eyes of the rest of the world.

cameldrv 7y ago
I hear this line a lot "Countering bad propaganda", but I don't see the bad propaganda anywhere. For example, it is extremely seldom mentioned in the U.S. media that the virus emerged at a location very close to a lab that was researching hybridized SARS viruses, and the true origin of the virus is still unknown. It is known that the origin was not the seafood market. Yet, on the other side, you have high level Chinese government officials spreading completely unfounded theories that the virus originated in the U.S., and threatening to withhold pharmaceuticals unless the U.S. apologizes to and thanks China. Honestly I think that this strategy will backfire for China. If the Chinese government continues to act this aggressively, it will stir up absolute rage in the minds of the American public against China, where now there is virtually none.
- FooBarWidget 7y ago
  I also think the "virus originated from US" is far-fetched given the available evidence (though I still think "virus didn't originate in China" is at least still plausible -- and even important to research for the sake of public health). However, you're saying that the US media "seldomly" mentions that the virus originated close to the Wuhan virus lab? I see the "virus escaped from Wuhan lab" speculation being thrown on the US social media all over the place. There's even a senator that spared no effort to spread this "news". I'm absolutely not saying that the Chinese speculation of the virus originating from the US is any better. But let's not pretend that the US is the "better man" here.
- DiogenesKynikos 7y ago
  > Yet, on the other side, you have high level Chinese government officials spreading completely unfounded theories that the virus originated in the U.S. I see very prominent American political figures giving interviews on national Cable news channels spreading the theory about the virus escaping from a Chinese lab. > If the Chinese government continues to act this aggressively, it will stir up absolute rage in the minds of the American public against China, where now there is virtually none. Most of the messaging the Chinese government puts out, especially in English, could not in any way be characterized as "aggressive." They've been putting out some interesting documentaries about the fight against the epidemic in Wuhan, as well as feel-good reports about the aid they're sending to foreign countries. I do see a lot of "aggressive" American rhetoric going in the other direction, however. Case in point: the way that high-ranking members of the Trump administration insist on referring to CoVID-19 as a "Chinese virus." Beyond that, there's been a crazy amount of anti-Chinese sentiment stirred up in the US, ever since the beginning of the trade war.