Chinese Communist Party censorship of reports about the nascent coronavirus outbreak guaranteed that the infectious disease would spread around the world, according to one of President Trump’s top advisers.
“This outbreak in Wuhan was covered up,” said White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien at an event in Washington. “It probably cost the world community two months,” during which it could have responded.
O’Brien’s comments continued a diplomatic dispute that has unfolded alongside the international health crisis, as Beijing has sought to avoid political backlash over the outbreak amid a worsening rivalry with Washington.
“If we’d had those [two months] and been able to sequence the virus, and had the cooperation necessary from the Chinese, had a WHO team been on the ground, had a CDC team, which we’d offered, been on the ground, I think we could have dramatically curtailed what happened both in China and what’s now happening across the world,” O’Brien said.
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Chinese officials have kept one eye on the political ramifications of the coronavirus from the earliest days of the outbreak. Their efforts backfired when party leaders punished the doctors who first reported the emergence of the virus. Such censorship gave way to an abrupt quarantine of Wuhan and other cities where the coronavirus had stricken the most people, a blockade that covered tens of millions of people.
As those measures took effect, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other officials touted their ability to impose the “wartime conditions” as a sign of the efficacy of their authoritarian system. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, continued that theme by visiting Wuhan in a show of confidence that the government has turned the tide.
“China’s experience … has set an exemplary standard,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday. “President Xi’s visit to Wuhan sent out the message of sure victory to the world.”
O’Brien praised Trump for restricting travel from China in late January, saying the drop in visitors “bought the United States 6 to 8 weeks to prepare” for the outbreak. The president’s handling of the crisis nonetheless has drawn widespread criticism, as he predicted in February that the number of cases in the U.S. would dwindle “to close to zero” within days and has stated inaccurately that coronavirus tests are widely available for those who need them.
“I think we’ve done a good job responding to it, but it is — look, the way this started in China, the way it was handled from the outset was not right,” O’Brien emphasized. “We’ve sent our condolences to China, but now we’re in a place where we’re having to deal with the crisis here, and what I would urge everyone to do is to take heed of the CDC warnings. If you’re feeling sick, don’t come to work. If you’ve got a coworker who sneezes, send them home.”
