World must not succumb to political virus: China Daily editorial

Instead of contributing to the global fight against the novel coronavirus, which is still wreaking havoc in many parts of the world, the United States is deliberately trying to undermine any concerted efforts by attempting to spread its political virus, as part of its China-opposed, clique-forming strategy.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, ill-intentioned high-ranking US officials have repeatedly used xenophobic terms in a nasty blame game targeting China.

The previous US president Donald Trump not only openly referred to the coronavirus as "the Wuhan virus" but also made ill-founded accusations against China relating to the pandemic in various international gatherings including the United Nations General Assembly. US President Joe Biden and members of his administration have not proved immune to this political virus and they too are trying to exploit the origin-tracing efforts and push the conspiracy theory of a lab leak in Wuhan in a bid to vilify and isolate China.

It is now clear that the politicizing of the pandemic is intended to not only shift responsibility from the US' own botched response to the pandemic but also bolster Washington's efforts to discredit and ostracize China. Fabricating lies, playing up so-called evidence and the assumption of guilt are dirty tricks the US commonly employs to slander, smear and intervene in other countries.

Facts have proved that the US is the largest stumbling block for the global anti-pandemic progress. Its irresponsible policies are hindering global efforts to contain the virus. And they have been disastrous for the US itself. Despite the US boasting the world's most advanced medical systems, the number of deaths in the country due to COVID-19 has risen to more than 610,000, and the total number of infections has surpassed 35 million.

Yet despite this, it is still trying to spread its political virus to undermine the spirit of unity that is badly needed to fight the pandemic.

China has always held that origin tracing is a serious scientific matter that needs to be conducted with a sense of due responsibility. It has participated in the international origin-tracing efforts with a sincere attitude, and has twice invited World Health Organization experts to carry out joint research on origin-tracing and made great efforts to this end.

As China has rightfully pointed out, the next phase of the origin-tracing research should build on what has been learned so far and study early cases in many countries around the world.

Countries need to be vigilant to the political virus that the US is trying to spread. In this light, it is good to see that nearly 60 countries have sent letters to the WHO, agreeing with the results of the first phase of origin-tracing research and opposing the attempt to politicize the study of the origins of the outbreak.