Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-22 16:30:29|Editor: huaxia

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The national flags of China (R) and the United States. (Xinhua/Bao Dandan)

The U.S. government should keep its own house in order and play a constructive role in enhancing international cooperation in the fight against the virus, stop smearing China and reflect on its own mistakes before more mistakes are made.



BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- By shifting blame, bashing and smearing China, the U.S. government is setting a bad example in the global fight against coronavirus in an increasingly dangerous way.

It seems that the U.S. government is less concerned with focusing on domestic epidemic prevention and control and more fond of criticizing China for a variety of unfounded and absurd reasons and trying to get a rise out of China by using racist and xenophobia words.

White House politicians have tirelessly accused China of being the birthplace of the virus, reacting slowly to the outbreak, making up data and even called the coronavirus the "Chinese virus" or "Wuhan virus."

As infections are rising sharply in the United States, the U.S. government has responded by spending a substantial amount of its energy on shifting blame and ignored the fact that only solidarity and cooperation will defeat a worldwide pandemic that is still developing.

Staff work at a drive-through COVID-19 testing site in Dallas, Texas, the United States, March 21, 2020. The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 20,000 as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday (1730 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. (Photo by Dan Tian/Xinhua)

Since January 3, China has been notifying the U.S. side of epidemic developments, prevention and control measures on a regular basis. However, the U.S. side squandered the precious time China had bought for global anti-virus fight.

Smearing and stigmatization can not deny the progress China has made in containing the virus' spread, nor will it help epidemic prevention and control in the United States. It only makes the White House politicians who initiated the smearing campaign against China look ugly and unreasonable.

Such rhetoric makes sense in an election year in the United States when politicians try to shift U.S. voters' attention from dissatisfaction with the government's inability in response to the epidemic to China and shirk their responsibilities.

This reveals the political decay and illusion of "democracy" in the United States. In many aspects, the U.S. administration is setting a bad example in the global fight against the virus.

Since the outbreak, China has made concerted efforts and adopted the most strict, thorough and comprehensive prevention and control measures which generate positive effects.

Photo taken on March 1, 2020 shows medical supplies, including masks, gloves and protective suits, donated to Italy by Lishui City, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua)

As the peak of the epidemic in China has recently passed, China has been readily helping other countries. The Chinese government has announced assistance such as testing reagents, masks and protective gowns to 82 countries, the World Health Organization and the African Union. Many batches of these supplies have been delivered to the recipients. Besides, China has shared valuable treatment experience with the rest of the world, held video conferences with health experts from other countries and international organizations and sent medical teams to Iran, Iraq, Italy and Serbia. Local governments in China and Chinese enterprises and civil organizations are also making donations to the affected countries. What China has done has been translated into a popular slogan that reads: "Our partnership, stronger than metal and stone, defies geographical distance."

As a major power, the United States should have been at the frontline of helping other countries fight the epidemic. U.S. officials have said on many occasions that they are going to offer 100 million U.S. dollars to assist China and other countries affected by the coronavirus. But China has not received any funds or supplies donated in the name of the U.S. government so far. The lip service paid by the U.S. administration only undermines its truthfulness, credibility and sense of responsibility.

The U.S. government should keep its own house in order and play a constructive role in enhancing international cooperation in the fight against the virus, stop smearing China and reflect on its own mistakes before more mistakes are made. ■