The National Review
Date: April 14, 2020
By: Isaac Schorr
Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wen and soldiers wear face masks to protect them against the coronavirus at a military camp in Tainan, Taiwan, April 9, 2020. (Ann Wang/Reuters)
‘Will the WHO reconsider Taiwan’s membership?” The question — asked by Radio Television Hong Kong’s Yvonne Tong — caused Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and a leader in its response to the coronavirus, to put on quite the show. Initially, Aylward feigned as if he had not heard. When Tong offered to repeat her query, Aylward insisted it was “OK” and suggested that they “move on to another one.” For a third time, Tong pressed the issue, only to have Aylward reach forward and hang up on the stunned journalist. In a follow-up call, Tong again raised the topic of Taiwan. Aylward demurred that they had already discussed “China.”
Incidents like this one clarify the corrupting threat that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) represents to international institutions — to say nothing of its threat to the United States and to the broader project of human freedom and flourishing. The PRC’s population of nearly one and half billion people, and the control that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) exerts over that population, afford it significant economic leverage that it uses to bully feckless individuals, organizations, and nation-states into ignoring and even defending its atrocious record on human rights and indefensible postures toward Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Even in the U.S. — the PRC’s chief competitor both economically and ideologically — we have borne witness to this frightening power. When Daryl Morey, the general manager of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, tweeted out a message of support for Hong Kong’s protesters last October, the league issued a statement condemning Morey’s tweet as “regrettable” and “offensive.” Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James blathered on about Morey and the public’s need to be better “educated.” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr chastised Americans for worrying about China while gun violence remained an issue in the U.S.
This inclination of international and American institutions to cower in the face of the PRC’s economic power is unnerving. As it continues to flex its geopolitical muscles, crack down on protesters in Hong Kong, and commit an appalling cultural genocide against the Uyghurs in the province of Xinjiang, the prospect of anyone’s standing up to the PRC seems decreasingly likely, even as the repercussions of acquiescence become increasingly apparent in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, apologists have taken to praising the PRC for its global leadership in combating the coronavirus instead of shining a spotlight on how its deception led to the pandemic’s proliferation. [FULL STORY]
