不要把你们政府抗疫失败的责任推给中国

China Imprisoned A Whistleblower

故事一：中國監禁了一名吹哨者

A main piece of the anti-China narrative is that the government arrested or imprisoned a COVID-19 whistleblower. 

關於新冠疫情的反中故事的一個重要部分，是中國政府逮捕了或監禁了一名新冠肺炎的吹哨者。

The story goes that a doctor found out about a new virus, tried to tell the world, was arrested and imprisoned, and then died from the virus. Commentators claim China did this because they wanted to cover up the existence of a deadly virus in the country, and that the result was COVID-19 spreading quicker and further than it otherwise would have. 

故事是這樣的：一名醫生發現了新的病毒，嘗試讓世界知道，因此被逮捕和監禁，然後死於病毒。論者們聲稱中國這樣做是為了掩蓋致命病毒的存在，因此造成了新冠肺炎更快更廣的傳播。

Most of this narrative is false, or at least based on half-truths. 

這個故事大部分是虛構的，或起碼是從半真半假的陳述構建出來的。

Doctor Li Wenliang was an ophthalmologist, not an epidemiologist. He initially misidentified the novel coronavirus as evidence of a SARS outbreak. He shared that claim, along with patients’ medical records, in a WeChat group on December 30 with a few colleagues, not to any hospitals or public health organizations. Li was not arrested or imprisoned. He was called in to a police station on January 3, after a screenshot from his WeChat group leaked and caused panic. At the station, he was reprimanded for falsely claiming there was a SARS outbreak, asked to sign a document pledging not to continue spreading the misinformation and then was free to leave. Unfortunately, it’s true that Li did die on February 7 from COVID-19, which he reportedly got from treating one of his patients who had been infected. 

李文亮醫生是眼科醫生，不是流行病學者。他起初把新冠病毒誤以為新的一次非典爆發。在12月30日，他將這個說法和病人的醫療紀錄，在一個微信群和幾位同事分享，而不是向任何醫院或公共衛生機關報告。李文亮並沒有遭到逮捕或監禁。在1月3日，在微信群訊息被截圖外傳造成恐慌之後，李文亮被傳召到某派出所。在那裏，李文亮因發表關於非典爆發的不實言論而被訓誡，被要求簽署承諾不再傳播這種錯誤訊息的文件後自由離開。不幸地，李文亮醫生確實在2月7日因新冠肺炎逝世，據報他是被一名他治療的病人感染的。

This narrative also serves to distract from another sequence of events. 

西方媒體關於李文亮醫生的說法，也起到了淹沒另一串事件的作用。

On December 26, Zhang Jixian, the director of respiratory and critical care at Hubei Provincial Hospital, noticed that four patients in her unit who sought treatment for suspected pneumonia — an elderly couple, their son and someone who had come in from a seafood market — all had similar and unusual CT images, which led her to believe they were suffering from something else. The next day, Zhang — who played a crucial role in combating the 2003 SARS outbreak — reported it to the head of her hospital. Within the next two days, the information was passed on to the provincial Centers for Disease Control, which then initiated full scale research into the hospital.

12月26日，湖北省中西醫結合醫院呼吸與重症醫學科主任張繼先，察覺到四名求診的疑似肺炎病人——一對老兩口、他們的兒子還有一位來自某海鮮市場的商戶——都有同樣的不尋常CT影像，因此相信他們患上了不正常的病。第二天，曾在2003年抗擊非典時扮演重要角色的張醫生，將有關情況向院長匯報。在之後的兩天期間，省和市的疾控中心獲得了有關訊息，並啟動了對張醫生所在的醫院的全面調查。

All of this took place before Li shared those screenshots in his WeChat group. Zhang wasn’t punished for her efforts — she was given an award by the regional government.

上述事件全部都在李文亮醫生在微信群發佈訊息前發生。張繼先醫生並沒有因上報可疑病例而被懲罰——省政府還嘉獎了他。

I used the ProQuest database to search through the entire print editions of the five publications I mentioned earlier in the article. Li was mentioned 44 times between them. Zhang wasn’t mentioned at all. 

我用了ProQuest資料庫搜索我在上文提及的五份報刊的全部實體版內容。李文亮被提及了44次，張繼先則是完全沒有。

China Didn’t Act Fast Enough

故事二：中國的反應不夠快

Another core part of the narrative, mentioned in nearly every one of the opinion articles I looked at, was that China didn’t react to the outbreak quickly enough due to malicious intent. 

反中故事的另一個核心部分，在我查閱的全部評論文章都有出現：那就是中國出於惡意而沒有盡快應對疫情爆發。

Here are quotes from just a few of the many examples I examined: “Beijing’s authoritarian government hid information about its origins, spread and severity for weeks”; “It wasn’t until Jan. 20, 40 days after the virus was first detected, that Chinese President Xi Jinping first issued instructions to control the virus, but by then it was too late”; “We know they hid this for at least a month before they told the [World Health Organization]”; “It wrapped the communist cloak of silence around the then-unknown virus running wild in Wuhan and kept it a secret until word got out.”

在這裏只引述我查看過的大量例子中的若干語句：「北京威權政府隱瞞了關於［病毒的］來源、傳播和嚴重性的資訊好幾個星期。」；「只在1月20日，即病毒被首先發現的40日後，中國國家主席習近平才第一次下令控制疫情，然而為時已晚。」；「我們知道他們在通知［世界衛生組織］之前就隱瞞了疫情起碼一個月」；「［中共政權］將當時不知名病毒在武漢肆虐的訊息包裹在共產黨的沈默守則之下、視為秘密，直至事態洩露。」

What these articles fail to mention is the unique difficulties of dealing with a novel coronavirus, as going through the process of noticing something is happening, identifying what it is and confirming the extent of the danger it poses takes time. This effort should not be viewed as something China was doing for itself, but rather on behalf of the world. Any country the pandemic started in would have had to do the same thing, and there are several steps involved before widespread action can be taken. 

這些文章全部都沒有提及處理一種新型的冠狀病毒的各種獨特困難：從察覺不正常的事情正在發生、到識別病毒和確定其危險程度的整個過程都需要時間。這種查證病毒的工作不應該被看作是中國只為本國而做的事情，它實際上是為全世界而做的。任何一個國家遇上了疫情爆發，都會需要做中國做過的事情；在採取影響廣泛的抗疫行動之前，必須要經過若干的步驟。

Here is a timeline of China’s efforts, continuing from the one mentioned in the previous section.

承接上一段提及的事件，下面是中國抗疫工作的一種時間線：

On December 31, just a few days after Zhang noticed strange CT results, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued a public notice about the disease. That same day, officials informed the WHO. On January 1, officials shut down the market where they believed the virus crossed over to humans, and a day later the WHO activated their incident management system. By January 7, China had isolated what was at this point believed to be a new coronavirus. All of this happened before the first confirmed COVID-19 death, which occurred on January 9. 

12月31日，即在張繼先醫生察覺到不正常的CT影像的幾天之後，武漢市衛健委發表了有關的情況通報。在同一天，中國官員通知了世界衛生組織。在1月1日，當局封閉了他們相信病毒從動物傳播至人類的那個市場，一天後世衛組織啟動了其事件管理系統。1月7日，中國分離首株新冠病毒毒株。以上全部發生在首宗確診死亡病例（1月9日）出現之前。

On January 12, China shared the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus for countries around the world to use in creating diagnostic kits. The next day, the first case of the novel coronavirus outside of China was reported, in Thailand. 

1月12日，中國與全球分享開發檢測工具必須的新冠病毒基因組序列信息。次日，泰國發現中國境外的首宗新冠肺炎病例。

As of January 14, the WHO was still noting that “there is no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission,” a crucial component of determining how dangerous a virus may be. The first confirmed case of human-to-human transmission came more than a week later. It wasn’t until January 30 that the WHO declared a global health emergency.

到了1月14日，世衛組織仍指出當時「沒有人傳人的明確證據」，這是決定一種病毒的危險性的重要指標。在一週多後才確定有人傳人病例。到1月30日，世衛組織才宣布新冠疫情為全球衛生緊急事件。

So, the idea that the disease was wreaking havoc within China and in neighbouring countries before the government did anything about it is false. This isn’t to say China’s response has been perfect, although it’s unclear what perfection would even look like. 

換言之，關於新冠肺炎在中國及其鄰國肆虐多時後，中國政府才採取了任何行動的說法是虛假的。這不是說中國的應對是完美的，但完美會是怎樣的情況，恐怕是沒有人能說清楚的。

Whether China reacted quickly enough to the outbreak is a matter of opinion, which I’m sure will be debated and investigated — including by the Chinese government — long after the pandemic is over and people are able to see everything in scale. For now, however, we can look at what the experts have said about China’s performance.

關於中國應對疫情爆發夠不夠快，在當前是見仁見智的問題。在疫情過去後很久、當人們能夠從全局看待事物的時候，我確信這個問題將會被包括中國政府在內的各方辯論和調查。但在當下，我們可以先看看專家們對於中國抗疫表現的評價。

In a January 30 statement, the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General wrote, “The Committee welcomed the leadership and political commitment of the very highest levels of Chinese government, their commitment to transparency, and the efforts made to investigate and contain the current outbreak. China quickly identified the virus and shared its sequence, so that other countries could diagnose it quickly and protect themselves, which has resulted in the rapid development of diagnostic tools.”

1月30日，世衛總幹事召集的突發事件委員會發表的聲明寫道：「對中國政府最高領導人的領導作用、政治承諾和在透明度方面的決心，以及為調查和控制當前疫情所做的努力，委員會表示歡迎。中國迅速識別了這一病毒，並分享了病毒的基因序列，導致迅速開發了診斷工具，使其他國家能夠迅速作出診斷和採取防護措施。」 

In a series of tweets the same day, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, wrote, “In many ways, #China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response.”

在其同日發表的一系列推特之中，世衛組織總幹事譚德塞寫道：「在不少方面，中國正在為應對疫情爆發制定新的標準。」

A February report from the WHO noted, “In the face of a previously unknown virus, China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history.” The report added, “The remarkable speed with which Chinese scientists and public health experts isolated the causative virus, established diagnostic tools, and determined key transmission parameters, such as the route of spread and incubation period, provided the vital evidence base for China’s strategy, gaining invaluable time for the response.”

世衛組織在2月發表的報告中指出：「面對此前不為人知的一種病毒，中國推出了可能是有史以來最有抱負的、靈活的和進取的遏制疫情的行動。」報告進一步說：「中國科學家和公共衛生專家們在分離病源病毒毒株、制定檢測工具和確定關鍵傳輸參數（例如傳播途徑和潛伏期）中展示的驚人速度，為中國的抗疫戰略提供了必要的證據、為抗疫工作爭取了非常寶貴的時間。」

The examples go on, and beg the question: Why do columnists feel more qualified to assess China’s response than the WHO? Some would say the WHO is lying, but what’s more likely: a successful conspiracy to silence the global health organization or a columnist who wrote about cancel culture a week ago being wrong? 

像這樣的評價還有很多。但問題來了：為什麼專欄作家們覺得自己比世衛組織更有資格評價中國的抗疫工作？有些人會說世衛組織在撒謊，但哪一樣是更可能的：世衛組織被陰謀封口，還是一個禮拜前還在寫關於網上羞辱的文章的那種專欄作家搞錯了？

China Is Responsible For The Crisis Globally

故事三：中國要為全球危機負責

Commentators accusing China of failing to act quick enough likely aren’t doing so out of a concern for Chinese citizens. Perhaps that was the case initially, but now that we see China, with a population of 1.3 billion, has thus far managed to keep their death count to around 3,300, these concerns seem motivated by something else.

那些現在還指控中國沒有及時應對疫情的論者們，大概不是出於關心中國公民的福祉。或許，在疫情剛爆發時，他們曾經有過這種動機，但隨著有13億人口的中國成功地將死亡病例控制在大約3300人左右，這些關注似乎有別的動機。

The reason, sometimes stated explicitly and other times just implied, is that these commentators believe the carnage in other countries is because of China. Here are just a few examples of these sort of headlines or statements: “China’s lies allowed the coronavirus outbreak to spread”; “now the whole world is paying dearly for Beijing’s behaviour”; “The virus is no conspiracy, just a cataclysmic natural phenomenon tragically mismanaged by the puppeteers in Beijing.”

這些論者有時明確地說出來、在別的時候則暗示的理由，是他們認為中國導致了新冠疫情在別國的大量傷亡。這裏只引用表達這種想法的大量頭條或聲明的幾個例子：「中國的謊言讓新冠病毒爆發得以擴散」；「現在整個世界在為北京的行為付出慘重代價」；「病毒本身不是陰謀，而只是北京幕後操縱者們悲劇地搞砸了的一場天災。」

This is absolutely not the case, and, difficult as it may be to accept, the carnage COVID-19 has caused within our countries is almost entirely the fault of our governments. The clearest example of this is the stark difference in how South Korea and the U.S. have dealt with COVID-19.

這些說法是絕對錯誤的。儘管可能難以接受，新冠疫情在我們身處的西方各國之中造成的慘重傷亡，差不多全部都是我們自己的政府的罪過。箇中最明確的例子，就是南韓和美國處理新冠疫情的鮮明對比。

Both countries reported their first confirmed COVID-19 case on January 20. Since then, as of writing this article, South Korea has reported around 10,200 cases, and 192 deaths. The U.S., meanwhile, has reported more than 367,000 cases, and 10,900 deaths. Accounting for the population difference between the two countries, the U.S. has reported 5.6 times the cases, and 9.5 times the deaths. 

南韓和美國都在1月20日通報了其首宗確診新冠肺炎病例。由此至今，在本文撰寫之時，南韓通報了大概1萬2百宗確診病例、其中192人病亡。與此同時，美國通報了超過36萬7千宗確診病例、其中1萬9百人病亡。按兩國人口比例，美國的確診病例數是南韓的5.6倍，病亡人數是南韓的9.5倍。

President Donald Trump recently predicted a best-case scenario of 100,000 to 240,000 deaths within the country from COVID-19, although experts who put together the data the projection was based of have said they’re unclear how the number was reached. South Korea, meanwhile, seems to have beat back the virus for now, with just six new deaths on April 7.

美國總統特朗普最近預測，新冠疫情在美國發展的最好結果是10萬至24萬人病亡（儘管收集相關數據的專家們已聲明，他們不知道特朗普是怎樣由此推出他的數字的）此時的南韓則似乎遏制了病毒，在4月7日只通報了6名死亡病例。

These stark differences are due entirely to the varying approaches the two countries have taken in combating COVID-19.

這些鮮明的對比，完全是由兩國不同的抗疫政策所造成的。

For example, as of mid-March, South Korea had tested more than 290,000 people for COVID-19, while the U.S. had done just 60,000 tests. Accounting for population differences, South Korea conducted 31 times more tests than the U.S. According to the Nation, “Many of the Korean tests were administered in drive-in centers around the country, where the procedure was available for free to any citizen who asked for one and results were available by text or e-mail within six to 12 hours.”

舉例說，在3月中，當南韓已為29萬人進行新冠肺炎檢測之時，美國只做了6萬件檢測。按兩國人口比例，南韓的檢測數量是美國的31倍。據美國《民族雜誌》（The Nation）報導：「南韓的很多檢測在全國各地的免下車中心進行，任何要求檢測的公民都可以免費得到，結果在6至12小時內通過手機短訊或電郵發出。」

Moreover, South Koreans were encouraged to wear masks, and they were readily available. People were able to pick up two a week from their pharmacy, with the distribution of them based on the last number of one’s birth year. The U.S., meanwhile, has had a massive shortage of masks, even for frontline healthcare workers. In recent days, they’ve resorted to essentially hijacking shipments of masks intended for other countries, and asking manufacturers to stop sending them elsewhere, including Canada.

再者，南韓人被鼓勵戴口罩，口罩的供應是穩定的。人們每週可以從藥房索取兩個口罩，分配順序由每人出生年份的最後一個號碼決定。與此同時，口罩在美國嚴重短缺，前線醫護人員亦不能免。近日來，美國政府竟然訴諸了攔截他國訂購的口罩和要求廠商終止向別國（包括加拿大）輸送口罩的手段。

South Korea is not the only example of a nation that has performed far better than the U.S., or Italy, France, Spain and various other countries. Vietnam, for example, with a population of more than 95 million, has had zero reported COVID-19 deaths, and around 240 cases. Their success has had less to do with testing, due to a lack of resources, and instead has come from aggressive tracing measures, enforced quarantines and the conscription of medical students and retired doctors and nurses to fight the virus.

南韓不只是唯一抗疫表現比美國，或意大利、法國、西班牙等國更好的國家。舉例說，人口9500多萬的越南，只有大約240名確診病例，無一人病亡。越南資源短缺，抗疫成功的主因不是大量檢測，而是積極追蹤接觸者、嚴厲執行隔離、徵召醫學生和退休醫護人員參加抗疫。

All of this is to say that China’s initial handling of COVID-19 didn’t doom other nations to the fates we’ve seen in the West. Instead, as journalist Ajit Singh argues in Monthly Review, China actually bought time for the rest of the world. As such, the countries in crisis are in that position due to their policies alone. Their governments should get the blame, not China.

以上種種都是為了說明，無論中國當初如何處理新冠疫情，都同今天我們在西方各國看到的厄運無關。恰好相反，正如記者阿吉特·辛格（Ajit Singh）在《每月評論》中主張，中國在事實上為全世界爭取了時間。因此，現在陷入了危機的那些國家的困境，全部出於他們推行的政策。這些國家的政府應該承擔抗疫失敗的責任，而不是中國。

I wrote this article because obscuring how we got where we did by allowing lies about China to spread will: 1) lead to less outrage from people against our governments, which is necessary to force them to take steps to save as many lives as possible; 2) help prevent us from building the socialist world we want to see after the pandemic, by portraying the death and destruction COVID-19 has caused as a failure of what is identified as a socialist government, and not capitalism. 

我之所以寫了這篇文章，是因為如果任由關於中國的謊言傳播，從而掩蓋我們西方各國現在遭難的前因後果，將會導致這兩種結果：一，降低人民對我們自己的政府的義憤，而只有人民的義憤，才能迫使政府採取行動挽救最多的人命；二，把新冠肺炎造成的人命傷亡和經濟損失，說成是一個被認為是社會主義的外國政府的罪過、而不是本國資本主義的失敗，將會妨礙我們在疫情過後建設我們希望見到的社會主義世界。