Freedom from Fear & an Inconvenient Truth

Viral Alarm

We are reprinting the following open letter signed by scholars of China and senior political figures as part of Viral Alarm — China Heritage Annual 2020, a work related to the 2019-2020 Covid-19 crisis and the dilemmas confronting China and the world.

— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
14 April 2020


Press Release

One hundred China experts and senior political figures have signed an open letter describing the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] government’s cover up of COVID-19 as “China’s Chernobyl moment”. The group of signatories, who include some of the world’s leading authorities on Chinese politics, law, and modern history, say that the Chinese government’s rule by fear endangers Chinese citizens—and the world.

The open letter by these leading China watchers and concerned political leaders responds to another open letter released by a group of China-based establishment academics who accused critical voices of “politicizing” the COVID-19 pandemic. This narrative has also been frequently repeated by CCP government official spokespeople, and also recently, by the head of the WHO. The CCP government has launched a crackdown on Chinese journalists reporting critically on the COVID-19 crisis and it is now censoring scientific research on the origins of the pandemic.

The co-signed international public figures, analysts, and China watchers argue that:

  • The roots of the pandemic stem from the initial cover-up and mishandling of the spread of COVID-19 by CCP authorities in Wuhan.”
  • Under the influence of the CCP government, the World Health Organisation initially downplayed the pandemic. Taiwanese health officials allege that WHO ignored their alerts of human-to-human transmission in late December. Under pressure from the CCP, democratic Taiwan—which has coped with the pandemic in exemplary fashion—is currently excluded from the WHO.”
  • The China watchers and other signatories say that “China’s Chernobyl moment is a self-inflicted wound. The CCP silenced Chinese doctors who wanted to warn other health professionals during the early stage of the outbreak.”
  • The experts urge foreign governments to “engage in a critical evaluation of the impact of CCP policies on the lives of Chinese citizens and citizens around the world.”

The letter is signed by one hundred distinguished experts in the field of politics, history, law, and Chinese Studies. Members of the European, Australian, Estonian and Lithuanian Parliament as well as Members of the U.K. House of Commons and House of Lords also signed the open letter. It was edited and translated by Dr Andreas Fulda from the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham and is hosted by three security policy think-tanks, the Ottawa-based Macdonald Laurier Institute, the London-based Henry Jackson Society and the Prague-based European Values Center for Security Policy.

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Source:

Press release: Experts say Chinese government COVID-19 cover-up is a Chernobyl Moment


An Open Letter to Chinese Citizens and Friends of China at Home and Abroad

给国内外中国公民和中国友人的公开信

 

The current global crisis has been caused by the regime so many of you have been tolerating or supporting for decades.

当前的全球危机是许多人数十年来一直容忍或支持的政权引起的。

On 2 April 2020 a group of one hundred Chinese establishment scholars wrote an open letter decrying the “many critical voices politicizing the COVID-19 pandemic”. They stated that “(at) this stage of the pandemic, the exact source and origin of COVID-19 remain undetermined, but these questions are unimportant and finger pointing is demeaning and hurtful to everyone”. They also argued against what they alleged is the politicizing of the epidemic.

2020年4月2日,一百位中国官方学者写了一封公开信。他们谴责“许多批评声音使COVID-19大流行病政治化”。 他们说:“在大流行病的这一阶段,COVID-19的确切来源仍未确定,但是这些问题并不重要,指责使所有人贬低并伤害所有人”。他们也反对所谓的流行病政治化。

The open letter exemplifies what the independent intellectual Professor Xu Zhangrun has called the “ridiculous ‘Red Culture’ and the nauseating adulation that the system heaps on itself via shameless pro-Party hacks who chirrup hosannahs at every turn”.

公开信体现了独立知识分子许章润教授所说的“(至于举国信心下跌、产权恐惧、政学愤懑、社会萎缩、文化出版萧条,惟剩狗屁红歌红剧),以及无耻文痞歌功颂德之肉麻兮兮,早成事实。”

Professor Xu—now under house arrest—has called on his compatriots to stop their uncritical support for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and instead to “rage against this injustice; let your lives burn with a flame of decency; break through the stultifying darkness and welcome the dawn”.

现在被软禁的许教授号召同胞停止对中国共产党无条件的支持。他呼吁同胞们“人人向不义咆哮,个个为正义将生命怒燃,刺破夜瘴迎接黎明,齐齐用力、用心、用命,拥抱那终将降临这片大地的自由的太阳!”。

While the exact source and spread of the virus are not clear yet the question of origin is highly important, for the people of China and for all humankind: only by understanding how this global disaster could emerge we can prevent it from happening again.

尽管我们尚不清楚该病毒的确切来源和初始传播,但起源问题仍然非常重要,对于中国人民和全人类来说:只有了解这种全球性灾难是如何发生的,我们才能防止它再次发生。

The roots of the pandemic are in a cover-up by CCP authorities in Wuhan, Hubei province. Under the influence of the CCP the World Health Organisation first downplayed the pandemic. Taiwanese health officials also allege that they ignored their alerts of human-to-human transmission in late December. Under pressure from the CCP, democratic Taiwan—which has coped with the pandemic in exemplary fashion—is excluded from the WHO.

大流行病的问题根源在于中共当局对于疫情刚在湖北省武汉市爆发时的隐瞒。 在中共的影响下,世界卫生组织(WHO)刚开始淡化了这次疫情的严重性。据台湾卫生专家的说法,WHO忽略其2019年12月底发出关于病毒人传人的预警。虽然民主台湾成功地防治病毒在台湾的传播,可是迫于中共压力,台湾被世界卫生组织排除在外。

We should never forget that China’s Chernobyl moment was a self-inflicted wound. The CCP silenced Chinese doctors who wanted to warn other health professionals during the early stage of the outbreak: Dr Ai Fen can no longer appear in public after accepting a domestic media interview; her colleague Dr Li Wenliang died while fighting the virus in Wuhan. On his deathbed Dr Li famously said that “a healthy society shouldn’t have only one voice”.

我们永远都不要忘记,中国的“切尔诺贝利时刻”是一个自我伤害的伤口。 中共压制了中国医生,他们想在疫情爆发初期警告其他卫生专业人员:艾芬医生在接受国内一家媒体的采访后就被禁声了; 她的同事李文亮医生在武汉与该病毒作斗争时死亡。 李医生在临终时曾留下广为流传的一句话:“健康的社会不应只有一种声音”。

The Chinese entrepreneur Ren Zhiqiang wrote that “without a media representing the interests of the people by publishing the actual facts, the people’s lives are being ravaged by both the virus and the major illness of the system.” He disappeared on March 12.

中国企业家任志强写道 “没有了媒体代表人民利益去公告事实的真相,剩下的就是人民的生命被病毒和体制的重病共同伤害的结果。” 他于3月12日失踪。

The courageous citizen journalists Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua, who tried to report freely about the situation in Wuhan, now are also missing.

勇敢的公民记者陈秋实、方斌和李泽华因试图自由报道武汉局势至今下落不明。

Mainland China’s political malaise goes beyond the leadership failure of Xi Jinping. In a recent video message a young student called Zhang Wenbin reflected on his evolution from an uncritical CCP supporter to a critical citizen with a conscience: “Since I scaled the Great Firewall, I gradually came to the realization that the Chinese Communist Party has extended its dragon claws into every corner of the world, including collective farming [1950s], the Cultural Revolution [1966-1976], the Great Famine [1958-1961], the One-Child Policy, the Tiananmen massacre [1989], as well as the persecution of the Falun Gong [spiritual movement], and the peoples of Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang…Yet everyone continues to turn a blind eye, singing the party’s praises. I just can’t bear it”. Zhang disappeared shortly after recording his message. His friends fear he will face interrogation and torture by the secret police.

中国内地的政治困境不仅仅是习近平领导的失败,而且有其他因素。 在最近的一段视频信息中,一位叫张文斌的大学生反思了他从一个非批判的中共支持者到一个有良知的具有批判性的中国公民的过程:“(自从我) 翻墙之后慢慢认清共产党邪恶的嘴脸。中国共产党从土地改革、文化大革命、三年饥荒、计划生育、六四屠杀、对法轮功的迫害、对西藏、香港和新疆人民的迫害,到今天它已经将魔爪伸向了全世界,而大家还都视而不见,甚至还在歌功颂德,我实在无法忍受。” 张先生在记录他的视频后不久就消失了。 他的朋友担心他会受到当局的讯问和酷刑。

The global pandemic forces us all to confront an inconvenient truth: by politicizing all aspects of life including people’s health, continued autocratic one-party rule in the People’s Republic of China has endangered everyone. Rather than trusting the CCP’s intentions and accepting establishment academics’ uncritical approval of the party-state’s policies, we should pay greater attention to the voices of what can be termed ‘unofficial’ China. These independent-minded academics, doctors, entrepreneurs, citizen journalists, public interest lawyers and young students no longer accept the CCP’s rule by fear. Neither should you.

全球大流行病迫使我们所有人面对一个不便的事实:中华人民共和国的一党专制统治继续包括人民健康在内的生活各个方面政治化,从而危害了所有人。 我们不应该相信中共的意图并接受官方学者对党国政策的不予批判的认可,而应该更加关注非官方中国的声音。 这些思想独立的学者、医生、企业家、公民记者、公益律师和大学生不再接受中共以恐吓为主的政治统治方式。 您也不应接受这样的恐吓。

As an international group of public figures, security policy analysts and China watchers we stand in solidarity with courageous and conscientious Chinese citizens including Xu Zhangrun, Ai Fen, Li Wenliang, Ren Zhiqiang, Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin, Li Zehua, Xu Zhiyong, and Zhang Wenbin, just to name a few of the real heroes and martyrs who risk their life and liberty for a free and open China. Their individual voices are already forming a chorus. They demand nothing less than a critical evaluation of the impact of CCP policies on the lives of Chinese citizens and citizens around the world. We urge you to join them.

作为公众人士、安全政策研究者和中国观察者国际团体的成员,我们与勇敢有良知的中国公民站在一起。在此仅列举一些英雄:许章润、艾芬、李文亮、任志强、陈秋实、方斌、李泽华、许志永和张文斌,他们为自由开放的中国冒着生命和自由的危险。 他们各自的声音已经汇成一首合唱曲。 他们呼吁重新批判性地评估中共的政策,以及这些政策对中国公民和全球各国公民所带来的影响。 我们也敦促您加入他们。

A list of signatures can be seen here.

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Source:


Update, 20 April 2020

 

The open letter ‘The Chinese Communist Party’s rule by fear endangers Chinese citizens—and the world’ on Tuesday, published on 14 April 2020, enjoyed a groundswell of support. More than 200 public figures, security analysts, China specialists and professionals from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, India, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Kenya, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Georgia signed the letter.

Journalists reported widely about this initiative. There was, however, one noteworthy vilification: The Global Times, a quasi-official mouthpiece of the Beijing authorities was particularly underwhelmed. An editorial dated 16 April denounced signatories of the letter as ‘bottom-barrel, disqualified, self-claimed academics [who are] peddling hate by smearing China in an attempt to steal the spotlight’.

Chinese-Language Media Reports

Deutsche Welle:

https://www.dw.com/zh/中外公开信笔战-西方学者中共正在威吓全球/a-53158385

Voice of America:

https://www.voachinese.com/a/the-CCP-rule-by-fear-endangers-chinese-citizens-and-the-world-20200416/5374184.html

Radio Free Asia:

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English-language Reports

Medium:

https://medium.com/@williamyang_35700/chinas-covid19-mishandling-is-its-chernobyl-moment-said-its-international-critics-422f395e37c8

China Heritage:

https://chinaheritage.net/journal/freedom-from-fear-an-inconvenient-truth/

MacDonald-Laurier Institute (Video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLXZvMvhFkM&feature=emb_title

Newsweek:

https://www.newsweek.com/international-policy-experts-blast-chinas-coronavirus-coverup-call-it-their-chernobyl-moment-1497839

Express:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/1270823/coronavirus-china-beijing-100-academics-open-letter-xi-jinping

Global Times:

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1185856.shtml


Viral Alarm

China Heritage Annual 2020

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