LORD PATTEN: China's nasty, lying, bullying Communist regime must face the judgment of the world over the coronavirus pandemic
But what should co-operation in the future mean? We cannot simply go back to our dealings with Chinese Communists and do business as we did before.
First, there is always the inherent danger presented by Communist hostility to the truth.
Plainly, we should work, at the UN and elsewhere, with other countries in calling for a full and open expert inquiry into the causes and early dissemination of the virus. Failure to do this will hamper the fight against it today and the attempts to prevent a future occurrence.
Naturally, in a better world, the World Heath Organisation (WHO) should be the vehicle for such an inquiry. Yet there are real worries – not just on the part of President Trump – about the extent to which this body has been suborned by Beijing.
If you doubt that, just look at the way the WHO has connived with the Communist regime to freeze Taiwan – with a population of almost 24 million – out of the organisation.
We surely cannot allow China to go on preventing a free society which tells the truth from joining the WHO.
Calling for an inquiry has raised another matter which should bother us all. On January 30, the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, assured his Australian counterpart, Marise Payne, that ‘the epidemic is generally preventable, controllable and curable’.
A fortnight later, China’s embassy in Canberra attacked Australia’s restrictions on travel from China as an extreme overreaction.
Yet, from late January, China had been buying and shipping huge quantities of medical supplies from Australia. What did they know but wouldn’t tell us?
It’s no surprise then that Scott Morrison, Australia’s premier, recently called for an international inquiry. This was met by threats from the Chinese ambassador in Canberra, one of his country’s new-style ‘wolf warrior diplomats’, that unless Australia gave up this idea, perhaps the Chinese would stop buying Australian goods.
This is the sort of bullying tactic we have come to expect from China. The world should denounce it for a change. As many of Australia’s friends as possible should say how much we agree with Canberra’s proposal. On trade and economic issues, we should deal with China together. China’s economic growth depends largely on Australia’s minerals.
China’s President Xi Jinping hates democracies and all that we stand for. Shortly after he became China’s dictator, he issued new instructions to his government and party officials warning of the challenge to Communism posed by the Western values of freedom and the rule of law. He called for attacks on the West’s idea of journalism, free historical inquiry, civil society and democracy.
Meanwhile, China continues to throw its weight around in the seas surrounding its coast, building military bases there and flagrantly disregarding the judgment of the Hague Tribunal on its legal maritime borders.
The world has to work together. Sure. But we cannot allow Chinese Communists to break the rules or to distort them to suit themselves.
One day this nasty and dangerous regime will go. Until then, all the friends of freedom and decency will have to be on our guard.
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