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A rchive Date
[ 03-04-2020 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
      [https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-trudeau-government-indifferent-to-chinas-lies-on-covid-19

      Trudeau government indifferent to China's lies on COVID-19
      Brian Lilley
      April 2, 2020

      China lied and people died, that’s the bumper sticker version on an American intelligence report on Beijing’s handling of COVID-19.

      In a story broken by Bloomberg on Wednesday, senior officials tell the news service that “China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete.” According to a classified report from the American intelligence community, China under-reported both the number of infections and their death rate.

      China denies it, of course, but this is a dictatorial regime that would deny the sky is blue if they thought it made them look bad.

      Why does this matter to us?

      Much of what we know about coronavirus comes from the experience China had with it. There have long been claims the folks at the top in Beijing were less than honest about the outbreak. Did they take it seriously? Did they report it to international authorities soon enough to help stop the spread? Or did they lie and obfuscate to save their reputation?

      My money is on the latter.

      Seems like the American intelligence community is betting on that as well.

      So, should Canada be concerned that when it comes to some of the key data and models we have used to determine how difficult this outbreak will be for us that we have been lied to?

      I would say yes but I neither lead the federal government nor am part of it. Those who are can’t get their messaging straight. Within the span of two hours on Thursday we were told this is something to worry about later on, that this is something NATO and our allies are worried about now and that this claim is something of a conspiracy theory from the internet.

      Those reactions came from the PM, his foreign affairs minister and his health minister.

      “Obviously, there’ll be many, many questions as this is all worked through over the coming months and indeed years on how this was handled, what lessons are taken, who did well, who didn’t do as well, and who was perhaps not as forthcoming with the global community as they should have been. Those are questions, though, for future times,” Trudeau said Thursday.

      He refused to directly address the issue of China and the American intelligence report he was asked about.

      I get that pointing fingers is less important to the PM right now than getting Canada through this pandemic, but he seemed at pains not to upset China.

      Global Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne was a bit more forthcoming before retreating into the government line of not upsetting China.

      “We are very concerned about this information. I just had a call with the NATO allies about this a few hours ago,” Champagne said at the daily briefing.

      He went on to explain Canada gets its health information from the UN backed World Health Organization but said liberal democracies need to be concerned.

      I wish his cabinet colleague was as concerned. As health minister, Patty Hajdu is leading the charge in Canada to fight back against the virus from a health front.

      “I would say that your question is feeding into the conspiracy theories that many people have been perpetuating on the internet,” Hajdu said in response to a highly reasonable question from CTV producer Ian Wood.

      Wood wasn’t feeding into any conspiracy theories - the minister was avoiding a tough question.

      We should be skeptical of China and their claims. We shouldn’t base our own models and experiences on theirs.

      China denounced Dr. Li Wenliang for blowing the whistle on COVID-19, then exonerated him after his death. Now Dr. Ai Fen, director of emergency services at Wuhan Central hospital has disappeared after criticizing the government’s response.

      The Chinese government can’t be trusted on this file, no matter how much Justin Trudeau admires their basic dictatorship.

      blilley@postmedia.com

      © 2020 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited


      World Fact Book (CIA)]


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