China’s state-run Global Times propaganda newspaper began the week on Monday with columns proclaiming the end of American democracy and declaring that Washington was “no match for China” in fighting diseases.

China is the country of origin of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, which it allowed to become a threat to humanity on a global scale by persecuting doctors and others who attempted to share information on a contagious disease spreading in the central city of Wuhan. One study found that the Chinese Communist Party could have prevented, if not for its censorship and incompetence, as many as 95 percent of the world’s coronavirus cases.

The Chinese government officially denies being the origin country of the virus, despite no evidence existing contradicting this conclusion. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have accused the American army of creating the virus in a laboratory.

The Global Times dismissed America as a collapsing empire in a column featured prominently on Monday, claiming that the official number of cases in the United States versus those in China, which are widely considered false, shows that China is a superior public health power.

“The COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] spread in the U.S. is almost like that of a primitive society. It should not have been like this if the U.S. had the slightest science and organization,” the propaganda outlet asserted. “To put it bluntly, the U.S. is no match for China in terms of anti-epidemic organization and mobilization. The U.S. political system has been hit by the pandemic on its weak side and we were willing to show understanding for that. After all, every system has its weaknesses.”

The Global Times claimed to abandon “understanding” for the United States because the administration of President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed China for not being forthcoming with pivotal information that could have saved lives early during the pandemic.

“In that case, it is not our fault to reveal the miserable failure of the U.S.,” the newspaper concluded.

“China’s achievements stand the test of time and all kinds of doubts. The Trump administration only wants to shirk responsibility by blackening China. This will be proven a lame trick. This will only reflect the incompetence and ethical failings of the related US politicians,” the article declared.

Another article featured on Monday lambasted not just America’s healthcare system, but democracy in general. In the article, titled “Divisive U.S. Politics Leads to Democracy’s Fast Decay,” the Chinese propaganda outlet claimed its conclusions were extracted from a conversation with a Chinese professor. The article gives no indication what, if anything, in the article is a quote by the professor and which parts are editorializing on the part of the newspaper.

“Some believe that American democracy is dying. Indeed, the recent chaos in the country has proved its in decay,” the Global Times asserted. “It allows infighting between the federal and the states at this critical time, aggravates US society’s fragmentation and polarization, and will erode the country’s long-term interests. And it is the American people who will bear the losses and pain.”

The newspaper offers one silver lining to democracy: “The decision-making power of each state did help the country avoid a complete catastrophe, given the Trump administration’s inaction and incompetence.”

The article did not offer any examples of allegedly incompetent behavior. It also did not mention repeated statements of support for Trump’s response to the outbreak from prominent Democrat governors such as Gavin Newsom of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York.

Elsewhere, the article accused Trump of helping “foster violence” by urging support for protests against onerous coronavirus lockdown measures at the state level and supporting the Second Amendment.

“His ideas are dangerous, even more so amid the coronavirus pandemic,” the newspaper warned.

President Trump has made several statements questioning the Communist Party’s response to the virus, among them suggesting that the official Chinese death tally is purposefully deflated.

“Does anybody really believe that number?” Trump asked during Saturday’s press conference, referring to the official Chinese death toll presented in statistics displayed by Dr. Deborah Birx of the coronavirus task force.

Last week, Trump ordered a freeze on funding the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), a United Nations body, calling for an investigation into the relationship between director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is not a medical doctor, and the Chinese government given misinformation the W.H.O. disseminated about the virus.

“The W.H.O. pushed China’s misinformation about the virus, saying it was not communicable and there was no need for travel bans,” Trump said during a press statement. “The W.H.O.’s reliance on China’s disclosures likely caused a twenty-fold of cases worldwide, and it may be much more than that.”

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang compared blaming China for the pandemic to blaming the United States for the fall of Lehman Brothers, a global financial services firm that went out of business in 2008.

“AIDS was first reported in the U.S. in the 1980s and then swept across the world, causing untold sufferings to countless victims. Did anyone come forward and ask the U.S. to be held accountable?” Geng told reporters. “In addition, Kishore Mahbubani, a professor at the National University of Singapore, said in an interview the other day that the financial turmoil in the U.S. triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 turned into a global financial crisis. Did anyone ask the U.S. to take the consequences?”

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.