China coronavirus feature photo
MANUFACTURED CONSENT?
COVID-19: US Politicians and Media Have Success Hyped the Public Into an
Anti-China Frenzy
New polls show an overwhelming desire by Americans to see some kind of
retaliation against China over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
by Alan Macleod
April 10th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
Anew Harris poll has found that, amidst the crisis, the American public's
attitude towards China has turned from frosty to outright hostile. 77
percent of the country blames China for the outbreak, with 54 percent
stating that it owes the U.S. reparations for being the epicenter of the
outbreak. The public also believes that China has acted highly
irresponsibly: only 23 percent think President Xi Jinping is a trustworthy
source for information on the virus, and, if proven that it has
underreported its cases, over 80 percent demand a full-scale economic war
against the country.
Virtually every country in the world is likely underplaying their figures,
including the United States. For example, eight times as many New Yorkers
have died in their homes compared with last year. Many are strongly
suspected of having died from COVID-19, but because they did not die in a
hospital, they are not added to the official count. The results of the poll
are relatively bipartisan, with 88 percent of Republicans and 78 percent of
Democrats favoring imposing wide-scale economic sanctions; the difference is
Republicans want Trump to do it unilaterally, Democrats wanting
congressional approval. As such, the two positions represent a perfect
microcosm of decades of U.S. foreign policy.
Despite the Trump administration's incompetent handling of the pandemic (for
weeks Trump claimed was a liberal "hoax" and no big deal) 58 percent of the
public blamed China for the spread of the coronavirus within the United
States; only 42 percent blaming their own government. 50 percent of
Americans wanted Trump to get "tough" with China, compared to only 17
percent who favored a softer approach.
The U.S. public's condemnation of China could barely contrast more with the
reaction of international health bodies like the World Health Organization
(WHO), who have had teams on the ground for months. The WHO has been
effusive in its praise for China's "commitment to transparency," lauding how
quickly it identified the virus and shared it with the world. "I have never
seen the scale and commitment of an epidemic response at this level in terms
of all of government involvement," said Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO's Chief
Executive Director for Health Emergencies, praising the organization of the
Chinese state. "The challenge is great, but the response has been massive
and the Chinese government deserve huge credit for that response and for the
transparency in which they have dealt with this."
Where, then, is the public getting this attitude from? One source has been
politicians like Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who suggested without evidence
that the novel coronavirus actually began life in a Chinese "super
laboratory," presumably then unleashed or accidentally discharged on to the
population. Three out of ten Americans agree with Cotton's theory, according
to research published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. Only four in ten
believe that the virus came about naturally.
As Coronavirus Spreads So Does Anti-Chinese Racism
Similar to how Ebola was racialized as a distinctly African illness, news of
the coronavirus has led to an outbreak of anti-Chinese racism.
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Jan 31
Another driver of anti-Chinese sentiment has been the media. Even when China
does something unquestionably positive, such as donate planeloads of medical
equipment to European countries, CNN presented it as a scheming Beijing
merely trying to "deflect blame" and "curry favor."
Meanwhile, the Washington Post writes that "Working together to confront
China's bad behavior is not just a national security imperative. It's also
smart politics," claiming that only the "far-left" could possibly want a
more amicable relationship with China, even red-baiting Joe Biden for not
being sufficiently condemnatory of Beijing.
As a result of the media coverage, an epidemic of anti-Chinese xenophobia
has also spread across the U.S., even negatively affecting many non-Chinese
Asian communities. A Thai woman was racially abused on the Los Angeles
subway, Indiana hotels refused to serve two Hmong men on the grounds that
they probably had coronavirus and Vietnamese students in California have
been bullied and abused at school by gangs yelling "coronavirus." Racists
are not known for their precise knowledge of culture and geography.
2021 Pentagon Budget Request Hints at Russia and China as the New Focus of
US Empire
The Pentagon is shifting its strategy, budget and arsenal to focus on a
confrontation with Russia and China, writes Darius Shahtahmasebi.
MintPress News | Darius Shahtahmasebi | Feb 24
The targeting of China for blame is not purely a means to deflect attention
away from Washington's lackluster response to the pandemic, however. As
MintPress reported in February, the Pentagon's 2021 budget request demanded
$705 billion to "shift focus from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a
greater emphasis on the types of weapons that could be used to confront
nuclear giants like Russia and China."
Joe Biden's foreign policy team also favors a ramping up of Obama's "pivot
to Asia" - an attempt to militarily encircle and asphyxiate the emerging
Asian nation. His "top priority" if he gets into power, according to a
recent article, is to counter the "China challenge," deciding "what level of
sanctions the United States impose" on Beijing and "how far the U.S. should
go." Taken for granted is that Washington has the legal or moral right to
take such actions.
While the new attack on China from politicians and press alike could be seen
as an attempt to shift blame away from the Trump administration and to avoid
self-reflection, it can also be read as a cynical attempt to manufacture
consent for a war with Beijing that has been years in the making. And,
according to the Harris poll, it is working. "Blame China" could turn into
calls to "bomb China" sooner than we think.
