‘There is no doubt that China’s unconscionable decision to orchestrate an elaborate cover-up … led to the death of thousands of people…’
(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wants communist China to pay for lying about the Wuhan coronavirus and allowing it spread around the world causing hundreds of thousands of infections and massive economic devastation.
Hawley introduced a bicameral resolution Tuesday calling for an “international investigation” into the Chinese Communist Party’s devious cover-up of the disease after Chinese officials first learned of it in November 2019. The resolution also calls on China to reimburse all nations impacted by the CCP’s lies and corruption.
“Since day one, the Chinese Communist Party intentionally lied to the world about the origin of this pandemic,” Hawley said in a statement. “The CCP must be held to account for what the world is now suffering.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, filed companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
Stefanik, a freshman congresswoman from upstate New York, earned the respect of President Donald Trump and high-ranking congressional officials for her skillful defense of the president during the House impeachment inquiry and Senate trial. She said critical information was knowingly withheld that could have been used to stop “the Chinese-born COVID-19,” and added that the “lies and disinformation” about the origin of the super-virus continue to this day.
“There is no doubt that China’s unconscionable decision to orchestrate an elaborate cover-up of the wide-ranging and deadly implications of coronavirus led to the death of thousands of people, including hundreds of Americans and climbing,” she said.
But China shows no signs of accepting responsibility. In fact, Hawley’s and Stefanik’s harsh words for the Chinese government pale in comparison to the ongoing despicable nature of the communist government’s disinformation campaign.
When the Chinese public first became aware of the disease in the city of Wuhan, the CCP blamed the Unites States military for the coronavirus outbreak and suggested it was a plot to crush China’s economy.
In late January, Chinese state propaganda accused the U.S. military of targeting people of Han Chinese ancestry with the disease because of the “poor performance of the American athletes” during the Military World Games in October 2019.
The bizarre assertion that the U.S. military was behind the Wuhan coronavirus has been allowed to proliferate on Twitter, with Lijian Zhao, spokesman and deputy director-general of the Information Department of Chinese Foreign Ministry, asserting the baseless claim as recently as March 12.
2/2 CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation! pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3
— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 12, 2020
Hawley has been personally attacked by Chinese state-run media on Twitter. He recently fired back: “Makes my day to be attacked by the #China state-run newspaper owned by the #ChineseCommunistParty. And why? For speaking the truth: this virus originated in WUHAN, not America, & became a global pandemic thx to the lies & incompetence of the Chinese Communists in Beijing.”
He’s also turned his outrage on Twitter itself. “Hold on – @Twitter will take down posts by @realDonaldTrump but WON’T take down the #China Communist propaganda lies blaming US soldiers for starting #covid19 #coronavirus?” he asked.
Hold on – @Twitter will take down posts by @realDonaldTrump but WON’T take down the #China Communist propaganda lies blaming US soldiers for starting #covid19 #coronavirus? https://t.co/JkBBTRDbhn
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 24, 2020
Perhaps the most chilling case of lying and abuse involves the now-deceased Wuhan doctor, Li Wenliang.
According to the BBC, Dr. Li noticed seven cases of a mystery virus in early December 2019 that turned out to be the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Li alerted other doctors via an internet chat group about the budding emergency. But rather than celebrate them for their foresight, the doctors were punished at the Wuhan Public Security Bureau.
There, police told Li he was being investigated for “spreading rumors” and ordered him to cease all further communication about what would soon become a global health pandemic. Li was forced to formally apologize and sign a confession admitting to “making false comments” that “severely disturbed the social order.”
The virus quickly spun out of control, and Chinese authorities allowed Li to return to work to help combat the disease. He died several weeks later after contracting the disease from infected patients.
Hawley’s resolution expressly cites the timeline of events involving Dr. Li’s prescient warning about the Wuhan coronavirus, as one of many instances of Chinese government malfeasance outlined in the proposed legislation.
The resolution contains a list of CCP lies and instances of corruption that precipitated the current pandemic, including:
- 1 – Ordering laboratories to stop testing for COVID–19 and destroy samples.
- 9 – Withholding the known genetic information of COVID-19 from international health organizations.
- 14 – Coordinating with the World Health Organization to announce, “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus.”
Hawley blasted the WHO after learning that the international health body was helping the Chinese Communist Party deny responsibility for the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.
The Chinese government also helped WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus obtain the organization’s top position in 2017.
There need to be consequences here. WHO has sided w/ #China Communist Party against the world in this pandemic https://t.co/iTvuZxO9bI
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 23, 2020
The Missouri senator’s resolution demands that China compensate the United States and other nations for the harm it has caused and cites a British study showing that an earlier intervention by the Chinese government “could have significantly limited the geographic spread of COVID-19.”