Condemning the usage of terms like ‘Wuhan virus’ or ‘Chinese virus, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in India Ji Rong said that neither China created the virus not it intentionally transmitted it to the world.
The virus that originated in China has so far claimed over 19,000 lives worldwide affecting 4,00,000 people. Ever since the virus brought down the world to a halt, a section of international press and leaders like Donald Trump have referred to the virus as the ‘Chinese Virus’ and the ‘Wuhan Virus.’ Coupled with the conspiracy theory of China having manufactured the virus, there has been growing hate towards the Chinese people.
Ji Rong urged the world to focus on China’s quick response to contain the pandemic rather than blaming China for creating the virus. Speaking in New Delhi, he also elaborated on the co-operation between India and China in the fight against the virus. He expressed gratitude to India for providing medical aid to China in containing the pandemic. He also said that the Chinese enterprises have begun to make donations to India to help it fight the crisis. We are confident that India will be successful in the time, he added.
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The virus broke out on 31st December in Wuhan province and since January 3rd China has constantly been notifying the World Health Organisation about the disease and by the 12th of January it shared the genome with the organization. In the early stage of the outbreak, China locked down and suspended travel to stop the virus from spreading. Recently, China held a video conference with 19 Eurasian and Asian countries including India and briefed about their experience.
The World Health Organisation has repeatedly appealed to not link the virus with any specific country, region or ethnic group. Despite that, United States President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continued to refer the virus as ‘Chinese virus.’ Because of this, there has been increasing discrimination against the Chinese people and ‘Chinese looking’ people across the world and even in India.
Although the first infection was reported in China, there has been no evidence to prove that the virus originated in China.
