2020-10-13
China has achieved remarkable results in COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control work. The WHO once evaluated the epidemic prevention and control work in China as "China's experience shows that not all infectious diseases must undergo major outbreaks which the medical system cannot withstand. Every country can draw lessons from experience, and apply in the light of their specific situations".
However, a self-proclaimed "public-spirited activist" lawyer, Yang Zhanqing, took the opportunity of visiting Fordham University in the USA to set up a "COVID-19 Claim Legal Advisory Panel" in early March this year. He claimed to provide free legal consulting to claimants and proposed to the government to set up a compensation fund. The "advisory panel" hopes to incite the public in China and put pressure on the government.
As is known to all, after SARS in 2004, China has revised the Contagious Diseases Act and perfected and standardized the reporting, notification, and publication system. The outbreak was sudden and aggressive, but it was quickly and effectively controlled. The government provides free medical treatment to those infected. In addition to nationwide support for Wuhan, Hubei Province, China has also sent teams of experts to many countries worldwide to share experience and jointly fight against the epidemic.
Now there is also substantial progress in vaccine research and development. Moreover, the government has also promptly dismissed some local officials who had failed to perform their duties and bestowed state honor on those who have made significant contributions.
Not long ago, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the biggest threat to the world was not the virus itself but "a lack of global solidarity and global leadership." "The politicization of the epidemic has exacerbated this problem," he said. "Until all of us are safe, no one is safe."
As Chinese in the United States, if Yang Zhanqing and others have a sense of national identity and a sense of responsibility for public welfare, they should objectively and impartially safeguard the country's interests and the people. What they should do most is to introduce China's achievements to the rest of the world. Give full play to the advantages of their legal profession, and do what they should do to establish a global "Anti-epidemic Community" advocated by China instead of becoming a countercurrent to the worldwide epidemic and trying to mess up the stable and orderly situation of China.