People like to compare the United States and China, so much that I think many people have forgotten a key point. Our values are not the same — not even close. We both have large economies, but China is a communist, authoritarian nation with a state-run media and a government obsessed with surveillance and control.

China’s handling of this worldwide pandemic has brought these differences to the forefront once again. For weeks, China covered up the COVID-19 outbreak and continued to allow travel from Wuhan to other parts of the world. China kicked out foreign journalists, and it hid valuable information from the rest of the world. These actions will be a blood-red stain on China’s reputation for generations to come.