In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, President Trump referred to the virus as “the China virus” and “the Chinese virus.” But in a press briefing on March 18, the president got pushback from the media. A reporter asked why he was calling it the “Chinese virus” when there were reports of bias against Chinese Americans.
Trump’s immediate response (“because it comes from China”), as well as his references to China’s conspiracy theory implicating the U.S. military, made everything clear. But in the days following, he changed his wording to “COVID,” “COVID-19,” “the virus,” and sometimes “plague.”
So what about Taiwan? I ask this question because the small, vibrant democracy is effectively independent of China yet mostly Chinese in ethnicity. Not surprisingly, Taiwanese people would also have a problem with the term “Chinese virus.” Instead, government officials have long been using “Wuhan virus” and “Wuhan coronavirus” interchangeably with more general names. They are also reminding the world where the virus started.
Dr. Alexander Chieh-cheng Huang is a professor and former deputy minister of the Taiwanese government’s Mainland Affairs Council. He also served as a senior consultant at Taiwan’s representative office in Washington. When I asked his thoughts on the virus language, Huang noted its political nature.
“I guess everyone knows well that using ‘Wuhan’ matches the anti-China public sentiments stirred up since 2019, when Beijing’s image in Taiwan had drastically deteriorated due to Xi Jinping’s ‘one country, two systems’ statement and the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong lingering even after Taiwan’s 2020 presidential campaign,” he said.
As it becomes clearer that China’s censorship and cover-ups exacerbated this crisis, officials in the United States could follow Taiwan’s example. Let’s call it the “Wuhan virus” to memorialize the human tragedy that China’s authoritarian government has created. Let’s call it the “Wuhan virus” to remind us of continued vigilance against the lack of transparency in China.
Dr. Li Wenliang of Wuhan tried to send warnings through Weibo, China’s Twitter, that there was a mysterious and deadly outbreak afflicting patients and medical providers. Wuhan police threatened criminal charges against Li, who later succumbed to the virus himself and died. There was an uncommon public uprising in China over the doctor’s treatment. People began calling for freedom of speech and an end to government censorship. Eventually, the central government ruled that Wuhan police acted unlawfully and “inappropriately.” While there is evidence that Beijing also engaged in a cover-up of sorts, it is clear that the crackdown on speech started in Wuhan.
Wuhan residents were trying to get the word out. They were trying to say that the true death toll in their city was far higher than reported. They pointed to thousands of urns being shipped to the city. Far worse has also been alleged. One famous Wuhan resident, writer and poet Fang Fang, was posting daily reflections and revelations during Wuhan’s lockdown. She openly criticizes the local government, even as censors and trolls harass her to this day. In response to Fang Fang and people like her, Beijing passed tougher legislation on March 1 to control online content. Finally, last month, Beijing acknowledged that the toll in Wuhan was underreported. But considering the government’s track record, even those numbers may not be accurate.
Wuhan authorities have still not closed the wet markets, where many health officials believe the virus was first transmitted.
Although we will probably never know, intelligence officials reportedly believe that there is a high possibility that the virus may have come from a Wuhan research lab. Lax security and standards could have resulted in an infected official or animal before the virus got out later into the community.
Taiwan’s early detection of something wrong in Wuhan and its strong mitigation efforts have won the island praise. It got one more thing right — the name.
Dr. Guy Redmer is an English professor and author currently teaching in Taipei, Taiwan.
