US anti-China campaign detrimental to global COVID-19 co-op, says Armenian scholar

YEREVAN - The US disinformation campaign against China, which uses COVID-19 out of geopolitical interests, has hampered global joint efforts against the pandemic and threatened to shatter millions of lives, a leading Armenian political scientist has said.

The United States launched such a campaign to divert attention away from its evident failures in tackling the pandemic domestically, Benyamin Poghosyan, head of the Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies in Armenia, wrote in an opinion piece published Saturday on the Voice of Armenia newspaper.

Poghosyan said both former US President Donald Trump and his successor, incumbent President Joe Biden, have used the novel coronavirus to stir up anti-Chinese sentiments around the world, either by openly referring COVID-19 as "the Wuhan virus" or by promoting a "Wuhan lab-leak" conspiracy theory.

The United States, who is deeply concerned by China's rise and wishes to curb the country's development by all means possible, has been trying to mobilize its allies in the smear campaign, Poghosyan said.

These efforts, though futile, have posed a considerable threat to the world, as they undermine international cooperation in the fight against the deadly pandemic, he noted.

In fact, US policies towards China are dividing the world and "directly contradict the ideas of justice and human rights promoted by the United States itself," he said.

As vaccination programs are in full swing in some wealthier countries, the developing world is struggling to reduce COVID-19 deaths. It is at times like these that great powers must unite and support those in need, Poghosyan stressed.

Noting that many countries have refused to participate in the anti-Chinese propaganda, he called on countries to be careful not to cater to US geopolitical whims, rather to act in their own national interests.

"To combat the pandemic and prevent millions of new victims in developing countries, it is necessary for the US government to put an end to the propaganda war against China, abandon its strategy of using the pandemic for narrow geopolitical interests, and united with all countries," said Poghosyan.