As the novel coronavirus pandemic kept spreading over the world, politicians and scholars started holding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) accountable for causing the worldwide disaster.
#1: National Review reported that, on March 24, Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) introduced a bicameral resolution to condemn the CCP for its initial handling of the coronavirus outbreak, and called for an international investigation to determine how the cover-up hastened the emergence of a global pandemic.
Hawley, who first called for an investigation into the CCP’s accountability, said in a press release, “Since day one, the Chinese Communist Party intentionally lied to the world about the origin of this pandemic. The CCP was aware of the reality of the virus as early as December but ordered laboratories to destroy samples and forced doctors to keep silent.”
“There is no doubt that China’s unconscionable decision to orchestrate an elaborate cover-up of the wide-ranging and deadly implications of the coronavirus led to the death of thousands of people, including hundreds of Americans and climbing.” Stefanik added, “This Resolution calls for China to provide compensation for the harm, loss, and destruction their arrogance brought upon the rest of the world. Simply put China must, and will, be held accountable.”
The bill calls on the international community to “quantify the harm caused” by China’s actions and to “design a mechanism for delivering compensation” from the CCP to those affected.
#2: On March 22, Jaap van Dissel, Director of the Infectious Disease Control Center of the RIVM, the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, admitted in an interview that the key reason for European countries to become the hardest hit of the pandemic at that time was because they believed the information from the CCP and the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Yes, this information might be wrong,” he states. “At first, we completely rely on information from China. China said the chance for this virus to spread in its country is very slim. The WHO also gave an estimation on the most likely scenario and said the risk of (the virus) spreading seems to be very small. We in the Netherlands and other European countries, such as Germany and France, adopted the same position, which was the WHO’s position at that time.”