Current Events > Has any government attempted to hold China accountable for this pandemic?

(+) Yeah! (+)

All these variants we're now seeing, some more contagious and deadlier.
China has all this blood on its hands.

Are any governments attempting to hold this nation accountable for the pandemic or are we all still too in the thick of it to deal with that matter?

---

It could be argued China are responsible for it getting out in the first place, but there comes a point at which the responsibility of nations that have handled it poorly starts to get almost as big as China's. If the UK, South Africa and Brazil had done a better job, we might not have the B.1.1.7 / B.1.351 / P.1 strains respectively, for example. Likewise for the USA and the various strains starting to show up there. Etc.

But yes, it is very disappointing that the only government so far to really try and hold China accountable was the Trump administration, and of course, simply the fact that Trump touched the subject immediately turned it into a politically divisive matter.

---

Unless they bioengineered it for the purpose of releasing it and they did in fact release it, there's no actual argument that they're responsible.

---

gunplagirl posted...

Unless they bioengineered it for the purpose of releasing it and they did in fact release it, there's no actual argument that they're responsible.

Their initial mismanagement and covering up of it is a very good argument. Furthermore, if they bioengineered or simply just knowingly posessed it in a lab, then accidentally let it get out, they're accountable for the breach, even if it wasn't intentional.

There's plenty of reasons to hold China accountable for the pandemic's origins; it's just that other nations have a lot to answer for with regards to how bad it's gotten, too.

---

gunplagirl posted...

Unless they bioengineered it for the purpose of releasing it and they did in fact release it, there's no actual argument that they're responsible.

They have substandard health practices that caused this virus to spread and get out of their country. They are totally responsible.

---

China should have a very large part of the blame but the accountability got really muddled once other governments started severely fucking up the handling of the virus domestically as well. Speaking only of the US, it's a weird position we're in to completely blame China for a thing we spent a year pretending was barely real and totally under control.

---

Yes, but their actions were weak at best. Nations need to push much harder on the CCP in general, not just about Covid-19.
---

I believe the consensus is that they actually handled it pretty well and it could've been far worse

Trump has way more blame than anyone else, not just incompetency but direct lies and misinformation got so many Americans killed
---

china needs to be held accountable, but why is america not held accountable for tearing up obamas pandemic response plan and then making the situation worse than it needed to be?

---

creativerealms posted...

The virus could have started anywhere.

it most likely originated in chinese wet markets which basically have no health or sfaety standards. so yes china should be held accountable for this

---

You can definitely argue they mismanaged the beginning but governments could have responded in time and clearly had enough warning. Some places like Taiwan took tough measures early on and never saw more than a few dozen cases. A lot of East Asian countries in general took it seriously early on and adhered to guidelines and never saw the mass death many Western countries that didn't take it seriously or ignored and outright mocked the measures seen in East Asia early on. Remember when people on here used to make fun of masks and say they didn't work? We had articles published in Nature showing they worked back in early February. The CDC and many other Western organizations continued to insist masks didn't work (as well as the WHO). There was also a campaign against travel bans for quite some time. People would say they were racist, didn't work, etc.

I was in Wuhan when it went down. I lived in the lockdown for weeks before being evacuated. And when I did get evacuated I was in disbelief at how little the CDC cared about it (they told us in quarantine we didn't need masks, could hang out in groups, and never tested any of us) and the complete lack of any countermeasures happening in the US. When I finally returned to Japan I felt some semblance of normalcy with people wearing masks and basic countermeasures occuring (though Japan has not been as strict as they should have been and we saw an upsurge recently, but nothing compared to the West).

---

KINDERFELD posted...

Are any governments attempting to hold this nation accountable for the pandemic or are we all still too in the thick of it to deal with that matter?

Right now is not the time for finger pointing and shit, we can do that after we get this damn thing under control.

I think I heard this from a right wing source, I'm not sure if it's true. But I heard China shut down domestic air travel once they learned about the virus, but freely allowed international flights in and out of their pandemic infested cities.

I've heard two stories about where the virus originated. I haven't kept up with the changing data, so maybe someone could help me out.

One story is that the virus originated from a lab, where the impoverished lab-workers would make money on the side by selling dead lab animals to street vendors.

Another story, (and one I find more likely) is that the virus originated from a giant "wet market" where animals are literally stacked in cages on top of each other, pooping on each other, and spreading germs and diseases. It was this meat market where the virus made the leap from animal to human.

When I had Covid-19, I didn't blame China. I blamed anti-maskers here in America.

once covid is gone i imagine alot of countries will move manufactoring jobss from china to some where more stable less communist

lol, how would you propose a foreign government hold china accountable? trump waged a tariff war against them and all they did was roll their eyes and fucked us right back, and its not like the rest of the world didn't notice that...

regardless, its stupid to act like china is the only responsible country at this point.

---

kelemvor posted...

I think I heard this from a right wing source, I'm not sure if it's true. But I heard China shut down domestic air travel once they learned about the virus, but freely allowed international flights in and out of their pandemic infested cities.

I know first hand this is completely false. We tried to leave Wuhan for Japan for weeks. Our flight was literally 3 days after the lockdown was declared and was cancelled. We spent so much time trying to get out. I had to leave my wife in Wuhan when I evacuated because we couldn't go on evacuation flights to Japan since we aren't citizens. We also tried a variety of other countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, etc. I also couldn't get a normal flight to the US, where I have citizenship. We have residency and couldn't fly out of China, there is no way in hell tourists were able to.

---

I doubt any ammount if action would have stopped the innitial spread. Even if China was open and didn't hide any information. It was still a new virus that was very contagious with a long incubation period, and good chance people could be asymtomatic speaders. Plus we have how resilient this virus is.

China deserves blame sure but this was inevidable and could have started anywhere.

---

The virus may have originated in China but it was not their fault that several world governments did the least they could to prepare for the virus and in some cases actively downplay it and call it a hoax. Maybe China lied about the severity or even hid data about the virus but what some countries did is downright criminal.

---

creativerealms posted...

could have started anywhere.

theres not many places in the world that are virus breeding grounds like chinese wet markets

---

China has a lot of things to be held accountable for but there's uh quite a number of things that have higher priority. Namely you know, actually dealing with the virus.
---

GiftedACIII posted...

China has a lot of things to be held accountable for but there's uh quite a number of things that have higher priority. Namely you know, actually dealing with the virus.

maybe get them to cut that shit out with the muslim death camps too, the imaginary coalition of governments that'll hold china responsible should probably work on that one first...

---

Rika_Furude posted...

it most likely originated in chinese wet markets which basically have no health or sfaety standards. so yes china should be held accountable for this

At least one other person gets it.

---

China may have tried to hush it up, but locked down internally. Trump was briefed on it, lied about it, ridiculed the idea of taking any precautionary measures and needlessly politicized the response, then blamed China for the continuing spread in the US.

---