KAOHSIUNG (Taiwan News) – Bill Gates is not a politician, nor a diplomat, and he certainly isn't an epidemiologist.
What he is, is an extraordinarily wealthy man who has chosen to reinvent himself as a philanthropist, who spends a fraction of his vast fortune to help those less fortunate than himself. Full credit to him for doing that, but his generosity does not automatically translate into expertise on the issues he spends his money on.
So, when Bill Gates talks to CNN or other major news outlets and gives his opinion on the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, it doesn’t really warrant any more attention than your opinion or mine. But, because he is Bill Gates, it gets attention.
Last Sunday, Bill Gates gave a lengthy interview to CNN's Fareed Zakaria, in which he discussed a range of topics around the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. In the context of that interview, he addressed pointing the finger of blame at communist China.
How is COVID-19 a distraction?
“I don't think that's a timely thing,” Gates retorted immediately before adding, “That's a distraction. I think there's a lot of incorrect and unfair things said, but it's not even time for that discussion.”
This is his opinion and, while most right-thinking people would profoundly disagree with him, he has a right to express it. But it becomes more dangerous when his opinion veers into the spreading of misinformation.
“China did a lot of things right at the beginning,” Gates claimed in the same interview. That comment is objectively incorrect. The evidence of their culpability appears to be incontrovertible.
Wuhan coronavirus started in China.The authorities there attempted and failed to cover it up and have subsequently faked data to make it look they have the crisis under control.
Their downplaying of the virus and failure to stop international travel appears to be directly responsible for it going global. Additionally, their influence over the WHO also appears to have resulted in their downplaying of the crisis and a great deal of bad advice.
Time to investigate is now
When a dangerous totalitarian regime is responsible for a global pandemic that brings the entire world to its knees, most people would agree that it is never too early to ask questions about what happened and who is responsible.
What is clearly needed is an urgent, international investigation to ascertain the facts. This should be carried out by a genuinely independent body (i.e. not the WHO), with experts from all countries (including China), with the power to go anywhere and seize any evidence it needs.
All governments should commit to being fully open and transparent with this inquiry. Unfortunately, the chances of this happening already appears almost non-existent.
In communist China, much evidence will already have been destroyed, while those who have tried to speak out have been swiftly arrested or "disappeared." The chances of them turning up alive and in a position to give evidence freely for such an inquiry seems remote.
This is exactly why Bill Gates’ comments are so dangerous. The longer we wait to investigate, the more time the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will have to destroy evidence of the truth.
The first major country to call for an investigation into the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak was Australia. The CCP’s reaction to this call tells you everything you need to know about the likelihood of the regime cooperating.
China’s response was as you would expect. The regime’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye (成競業), gave an interview to the Australian Financial Review, in which he said the Chinese people were "frustrated, dismayed and disappointed" with Australia's proposal.
He then went on to issue unequivocal threats to stop tourism and trade in Australian wine and beef if the country persisted with its proposal. Hu Xijin (胡錫進), the editor of Global Times, the CCP’s English-language propaganda vehicle echoed these threats too.
No-one is surprised by such reactions from the CCP anymore. The world is well used to seeing them use economic bullying as a means to get their own way.
Facing the consequences
Fortunately, Australia doesn’t appear to be caving in. Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told Newsweek, "Australia is no more going to change our policy position on a major public health issue because of economic coercion or threats of coercion than we would change our policy positions in matters of national security."
This led to Hu Xijin going even further and threatening to pull all Chinese students out of Australia. He then outrageously described Australia as “kind of like chewing gum stuck to the sole of China's shoes, sometimes you have to find a rock to scrape it off."
For too long, the CCP has been used to getting its own way in the international community. But the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has completely shifted its global dynamic with the world, something they don’t seem to have reconciled themselves with yet.
Regardless of the CCP’s bullying and attempts to hide the truth, there will be a global investigation into this pandemic and the truth will come out one way or the other. Contrary to what Bill Gates’ says, the time for that investigation is now.
And once the truth has been established, the CCP will have to face the consequences of its actions and deal with the compensation claims that will no doubt come flooding in.
This is exactly as it should be and if one of the eventual outcomes of the Wuhan coronavirus crisis is that communist China faces a global reckoning, then perhaps the long-term effects of this pandemic won’t be all bad after all.
