Since the coronavirus outbreak, Americans’ view of China’s Communist Party has turned decidedly negative. According to a new Pew Research Center poll, 66 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of China. For comparison, in 2017, only 47 percent of Americans held an unfavorable view towards China.

Although there are many possible reasons behind this sudden shift in public opinion, it is more than likely that China’s abysmal response to the outbreak in Wuhan is the primary driver. Why? Because, from the very beginning of the outbreak, China’s Communist Party has engaged in a coverup, which has put the rest of the world in jeopardy.

Here is a brief rundown of China’s coverup:

On December 6, 2019, a Wuhan man (with alleged ties to the local “wet market”) exhibited pneumonia-like symptoms. He is believed to be the first documented case. A week later, the man’s wife also experienced similar symptoms, which should have raised alarm bells about the possibility of human-to-human transmission.

On December 31, the Chinese Communist Party, which literally controls all media, including the internet, began censoring terms such as Wuhan Unknown Pneumonia, SARS Variation, and Wuhan Seafood Market. The Communist Party decided to whitewash what was a burgeoning outbreak.

On January 1, 2020, Dr. Li Wenliang, a Wuhan doctor who tried to warn his colleagues about a possible coronavirus outbreak, was detained by police for “rumor-mongering.” He was forced to recant and later died from coronavirus.

In early January, the Communist Party, realizing it had a possible epidemic in Wuhan, went into full coverup mode. In the span of a few weeks, top party officials in Beijing ordered virus samples destroyed, issued gag orders to health officials, and turned down requests by top U.S. health agencies to help study and possibly contain the virus.

In mid-January, China’s Communist Party did the unthinkable: It told the World Health Organization (WHO) there was no evidence of human-to-human spread. As a result of this lie, WHO released this statement, “it is possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission, potentially among families, but it is very clear right now that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission.”

Had the Chinese Communist Party come clean and alerted the world of rampant human-to-human transmission in mid-January (as it knew was happening), the death and devastation that has turned our lives upside down could have been spared.

By January 23, the Chinese Communist Party finally put Wuhan on lockdown. However, this occurred after millions of people left Wuhan on international flights. To protect other Chinese cities, the Communist Party stopped domestic flights into and out of Wuhan far earlier.

By mid-February, the Communist Party revoked press credentials for foreign journalists, which meant that all “information” (aka propaganda) from China came courtesy of the Chinese Community Party.

At this point, things began spiraling even more. The Communist Party blamed the U.S. military for “planting the virus” in China. The Communist Party vastly underreported the number of cases and deaths while continuing to be uncooperative with scientists from around the globe who were desperate to get as much scientific information as possible about the virus and its origins.

Now, in late April, the world is at a standstill. Hundreds of thousands are dead. Millions, if not billions, are suffering. And the Chinese Communist Party is pretending like it did absolutely nothing wrong.

Fortunately, the world is now keenly aware that the Communist Party of China is a murderous, repressive regime that will stop at nothing in its quest for world dominance.

No wonder (according to the same Pew poll mentioned above), 91 percent believe it is better for the world if the United States (instead of China) is the world’s leading power. Pretty soon, that might jump to 100 percent.

Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is an editor at The Heartland Institute.