China: "US Is Hiding Something"

Yesterday China portrayed itself as the victim of coronavirus disinformation, while "hiding something" regarding the pandemic.

"China always stands against disinformation campaign. We are victim rather than producer of disinformation," the foreign minister says.

The battle for the mind. Who is winning?

Be informed.

China's foreign minister claimed yesterday that the US government is "hiding something," has "lied" about the extent of the coronavirus pandemic here, asking, "When did the first infection occur in the US? Why they opt to blame others?"

China always stands against disinformation campaign. We are victim rather than producer of disinformation. Peddling disinformation and recrimination are by no means prescription for international anti-pandemic cooperation and should be rejected by all. pic.twitter.com/oPLVEPprNu

— Spokesperson发言人办公室 (@MFA_China) April 27, 2020

The Chinese government has come under withering criticism both of its handling of the coronavirus outbreak in late 2019, and a disinformation campaign it has waged to deflect blame for Beijing's handling of the crisis.

Clear thinking Americans would wonder why China's accusations are even worth mentioning.

The quick answer is because millions of American's are not "clear thinking." Or informed.

A quick look at the facts.

• Ex-FDA Chief Scott Gottlieb recently explained how Beijing misled the world about coronavirus.
  
  He says, "Had they been more truthful with the world, which would have enabled them to be more truthful with themselves, they might have actually been able to contain this entirely."
• Pandemic expert Dr. Debora Birx says she originally thought coronavirus was going to be more like SARS and not a global pandemic "because we were missing a significant amount of data from China."
• China has blamed the US for bringing the virus to China, rather than the other way around. The virus originated in Wuhan, China in November 2019 either from an outdoor wildlife market or a lab that studies viruses in bats.
• The Chinese government assured the World Health Organization as late as mid-January that the virus was not being transmitted through human to human contact.
• China also refused to share live strains of the virus, which slowed the ability of foreign scientists to develop tests to diagnose those infected with the virus.
• China has claimed that the US government planned to institute a nationwide curfew.
• Our CIA has confirmed that China has falsified data on the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in their country.

There's more Chinese misinformation developing nearly every day.

Could progressives be using the virus and China's misinformation to pull the nation into socialism?

Sunday, Fox Business News' Maria Bartiromo asked New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, "Are you using this crisis to take us into socialism?"

He responded, "Oh, Maria."

She continued:

"I just saw you on the press conference, and you said this: 'The bigger picture, a fair recovery for all, confront structural, economic and racial inequalities...' Are you looking to change things that have nothing to do with the coronavirus and we're not impacted by that, Mr. Mayor."

His answer:

"Maria, I'm looking to go at the very things that the coronavirus has dredged up. And have we seen it all over the country. There are vast healthcare disparities that have come up that must be addressed for the good of all of us. It's the right thing to do, but also to have a strong, healthy society."

For the greater good. They say.

Cheryl Chumley wrote an article this week, titled, "America, with coronavirus, gets a taste of socialism."

Posting a picture of empty shelves in Ralph's market she says this:

Socialism loving millennials look and take note: The clearing of store shelves, the shuttering of restaurants and nightclubs and bars---these are the outcomes of mass response to the global pandemic called coronavirus.

But they're also what befalls when socialism takes over.

The current store runs across America in the quest for toilet paper and bottled water aren't symbols of a free market. They're panic buys, made in reaction to nonstop contextually devoid media coverage about the deadly coronavirus; to quarantines and quarantine requirements; to announcements of school closings and business shutdowns that keep stretching and expanding; to government advertisements and press conferences that keep changing tone and content; and, most importantly, to the overall unaccustomed atmosphere of fear that grows upon seeing more store shelves in America cleared of items such as toilet paper and bottled water.

The empty shelves themselves become the reason for the panic buying.

We're not used to this. We've never seen this before

She says it's a good "teaching moment" for Bernie Sanders fans. For Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advocates.

She quotes from a story told by Daniel Di Martino:

"I was 15 years old. It was 2014 in Caracas Venezuela, and I had spent more than an hour in line waiting. When I got to the register, I noticed I had forgotten my ID that day. Without the ID , the government rationing system would not let the supermarket sell my family the full quota of food we needed. It was four days until the government allowed me to buy more."

Di Martino says he lived with socialism until 2016 when he was able to come to the United States as a student.

He says socialism destroyed his country.

The government, seeking to distribute necessary products in a fair and equitable manner, "imposed price controls... nationalized the most important private industries," took over the free market and hampered the individual's ability to create and produce.

He says the shortages went far beyond the supermarket. The government nationalized electricity, to make electricity "free". Unsurprisingly, this resulted in underinvestment in the electrical grid. "By 2016, my home lost power roughly once a week."

What's interesting is that the government never once said that its goal was to destroy the nation, or to shepherd power into the hands of a few of the elite. Nope. The official message of Venezuela's guiding geniuses was to help the downtrodden; open the doors of opportunity to all; ensure everybody got a fair share of the pie. The official message was one of equality and justice and fairness for all---not just the rich.

Jim Wallis and his religious Left social justice theology, echoes that of every socialist dictator in the world.

Chumley concludes:

Socialism is a soul sucking cancer that has no place in a free society---even if it comes under a name of democratic socialism, even if it comes under the umbrella of progressivism. Even if it comes by way of platforms and policies of the Democrat Party.

If you want to to see socialism at work up close and personal, no need to travel to Venezuela. Or Cuba. Or elsewhere.

Just visit your local grocery. If the doors aren't locked.

Among other things, the coronavirus--- the Chinese virus--- is teaching us a few things, and it's giving us a taste of what socialism really looks like. The word "utopia" does not come to mind.

This is why Jesus, in the parable of the talents, taught free market values and principles.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.