While the world is currently preoccupied with efforts to bring the crisis under control, this remains merely a war of words.
But sooner or later, the world will inevitably hold China accountable.
June 8, 2020
The Chinese Communist Party, basking in the glow of past successes, may believe that it can once again manipulate the world through propaganda and Chinese money as it always has.
June 8, 2020
It so happens that a very close researcher friend of mine visited the Wuhan Institute of Microbiology in mid-December and remarked how eerily deserted it was.
June 8, 2020
But once they had obtained the know-how, China kicked out the French and began conducting experiments under such sloppy conditions that even scientists were astonished.
June 8, 2020
The monthly magazine I refer to is essential reading not only for Japanese but for people all over the world.
After all, despite being filled with authentic articles like this one, it costs only 950 yen.
The following is a continuation of the special dialogue featured in this month’s issue of WiLL, titled “Wuhan Virus—Declare China a Terrorist State,” between Masayuki Takayama and Eitarō Ogawa.
Masayuki Takayama is a one-of-a-kind journalist in the postwar world.
Eitarō Ogawa, who authored a perfectly legitimate critique of the Asahi Shimbun, was sued by Asahi itself—a media outlet—for an enormous sum in a SLAPP lawsuit designed to silence him.
Despite suffering major financial losses, he has never wavered and continues to publish his essays.
Among graduates of Osaka University’s Faculty of Letters, he is one of the most distinguished.
The Inevitability of History
Ogawa:
Due to the deliberate actions or negligence of the Chinese government, hundreds of thousands of people who should not have died have, in fact, died.
While the world is currently busy trying to resolve the crisis, this is merely a war of words—but in time, the world will surely demand accountability from China.
Takayama:
The state of Missouri has filed a lawsuit demanding billions of dollars in damages from China.
Its attorney general stated that the Chinese Communist government's information suppression led to the spread of infection and resulting economic damage.
Germany’s largest newspaper Bild, in a column signed by its editor-in-chief, stated that “China owes Germany a total of $165 billion (about 18 trillion yen).”
Demands for reparations are also growing in India, Nigeria, and Turkey.
Tedros, the Ethiopian who symbolizes the problem, is just one example—Africa as a whole has been deeply immersed in Chinese money and dances to Beijing’s tune.
However, Kenya and Ghana have started to raise their voices.
They’ve stated that unless China provides reparations or improves medical infrastructure, they will refuse to repay their debts.
Ogawa:
Over the past 20 years, the Chinese Communist Party has skillfully manipulated white elites.
Riding on those past successes, they probably believe that they can once again deceive the world through propaganda and Chinese money.
But they will surely come to regret such naïve assumptions.
Takayama:
When China was constructing the P4 lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, France offered full cooperation.
They likely hoped to gain access to virus research and enter the Chinese market.
But once China obtained the know-how, they kicked the French out and conducted experiments under such lax management that even scientists were appalled.
Two years ago, a U.S. embassy expert visited the lab and reported to the State Department that “research is being conducted in an environment with inadequate safety measures, posing a risk of human infection.”
Whatever one believes about the artificial virus theory, a lab leak remains entirely plausible.
Ogawa:
I don’t believe Xi Jinping intentionally released the virus.
If that were the case, the subsequent response was too incompetent.
Still, I also believe the possibility of a leak from the lab is quite high.
A very close researcher friend of mine who visited the Wuhan microbiology institute in mid-December said it was strangely deserted.
By early January, North Korea had already reacted, and Taiwan followed by mid-January.
Yet Xi Jinping didn’t appear to notice anything until around January 20.
It makes one wonder if something completely backward was going on.
Takayama:
It seems certain that China was the origin.
Shi Zhengli, deputy director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, has denied that the virus leaked from the lab.
Yet she herself stated, “The novel coronavirus is nature’s punishment on humanity for its uncivilized lifestyle.”
She speaks of humanity in general, but only Chinese people eat bats and rats.
They have no sense of hygiene or cleanliness, so her remark, if anything, applies specifically to the Chinese.
In fact, all of the world-threatening pandemics in history—plague, Spanish flu, SARS—were bred within China and then spread globally.
Before COVID, China was known as the factory of the world.
It was touted as a prime market, but it’s also the country that gave rise to SARS and COVID.
Before that, there was the Hong Kong flu.
If you place your supply chain in such a place, another pandemic is sure to follow.
You might as well consider “China” and “epidemic” to be synonymous.
To be continued.
