Leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) congratulated each other on Saturday on the “extraordinary” success in the face of the covid-19 pandemic, with little time left until a World Health Organization (WHO) mission arrives in the country to try to clarify the origins of coronavirus.
The Chinese government has been heavily criticized inside and outside its borders for the way it handled the virus outbreak in Wuhan, in the center of the country, at the end of 2019.
But on Saturday, the CCP leadership praised the party’s “decisive role” in the face of “strange risks and challenges this year” and for adopting “a long-term perspective that allowed for a glorious and extremely extraordinary victory this year.” totally unusual year, “according to statements released by Xinhua.
China claims that in just a few months it has managed to eradicate the coronavirus due to a strict closure policy in the affected cities. In addition, it will be the only country in the world to record positive growth this year.
But China is accused of hiding the virus, allowing it to spread around the world. At least eight people who criticized government policies at the beginning of the crisis have been punished in some way in the country.
For example, a Chinese journalist, Zhang Zhan, whose reports in Wuhan earlier this year showed the chaos of the first weeks, was detained and will be tried on Monday.
These statements of Chinese satisfaction come a few days before the arrival of a WHO mission in the country, which will travel to Wuhan, among other things, to investigate the origins of the virus, especially to try to understand how it passed from animal to human.
This investigation is not intended to “blame a country or authority”, but to try to “understand what happened to prevent it from happening again”.
China has recently tried to question the origin of the virus. “All the available evidence shows that the coronavirus did not appear in Wuhan, in central China,” the Daily People recently posted on its website, without providing further details.
For months, China has also promised to share the vaccine with developing countries and provide masks and other protective materials to countries in need.