President Joe Biden’s decision to “redouble” intelligence efforts to trace the origin of the coronavirus pandemic could intensify international distrust of Beijing and hurt the Chinese Communist regime’s bid to isolate Taiwan.
With more evidence pointing to the possibility the virus responsible for over 2 million deaths worldwide may have escaped a Wuhan lab, international focus has centered on China’s actions and lack of cooperation over the last year.
“If this investigation leads to more proof that the coronavirus originated there, then China would be exposed even more [that] it was lying, engaged in a disinformation campaign, slandering the West and Western media and politicians,” a Baltic official told the Washington Examiner. “So, in this case, it’s significant, it’s quite significant.”
Biden’s announcement coincides with a showdown at the World Health Assembly, where Chinese officials succeeded once again in blocking Taiwan’s participation. Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping has worked to isolate Taiwan, with the ultimate goal of gaining control over the democratically governed island.
But Taipei has grown in geopolitical stature throughout the pandemic, while Beijing’s secretiveness and truculence have dented the mainland regime’s reputation.
“They’re pushing on the balloon, but Taiwan is kind of popping out the other end,” the Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano said, referring to Beijing’s efforts to convince countries to sever official relations with Taipei. “Even as they squeeze them out of international organizations . . . what’s going to happen is more countries are going to find alternative ways to integrate global cooperation with Taiwan.”
US AND JAPAN WARN CHINA NOT TO ATTACK TAIWAN
That dynamic was on display this week, as representatives from the State Department and the European Union joined with a senior Taiwanese official for a German Marshall Fund event on Taiwan’s place on the global stage in light of Beijing’s decision to blackball them at the World Health Assembly.
“It is very important for like-minded member states to continue to raise these concerns at very high levels within the UN system,” said Jennifer Hendrixson White, a senior policy adviser at the U.S. mission to the United Nations, on Wednesday. “We have an opportunity to encourage our partners to creatively expand their cooperation with Taiwan to continue to demonstrate . . . that Taiwan is a credible, and generous, and technically very capable partner in global health issues.”
The pandemic has had the opposite effect on China’s reputation, according to the Baltic official, who said it has helped Western officials acknowledge the need for a “different approach” with Beijing.
“You cannot treat China as as other trade partners or other partners,” the official said.
China’s influence at the United Nations, as a wealthy and veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, gives Beijing a a strong measure of protection against international backlash over the pandemic. But the public health crisis has heightened Western appreciation for the island democracy’s capable governance.
“We see Taiwan as an essential partner in the EU’s engagement with democracies across the world and in the region,” the EU’s representative in Taiwan, Filip Grzegorzewski, said during the same event. “Taiwan’s vibrant democracy is an example for many people in Asia and proves that transition from authoritarianism to democracy is compatible with political stability, economic growth, and general wellbeing. That’s the experience of Taiwan.”
Such attitudes could hold the key to the most realistic chance to impose a cost on Beijing, which has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the Chinese Communist revolution of 1949 and is very sensitive about any contact between the U.S. or allied governments and Taipei. The G-7, a bloc of the seven largest industrialized democracies, endorsed Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly, to no avail. White cited an agreement between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Taiwanese officials signed in 2020 as an example for other countries.
Those democratic overtures to Taipei could foreshadow a substantial response to China’s lack of candor and manipulation of the World Health Organization.
“The punishment for COVID, at the end of the day, is some healthcare organization that is parallel to the WHO that specifically monitors China’s . . . origination of pandemics,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Dan Blumenthal said. “In other words, they’re viewed as a country that is not a responsible actor when it comes to pandemics. And there is some sort of organization based in Taiwan or elsewhere that actually can monitor or review and take a second look at anything coming out of China.”
Carafano touted a similar idea.
“You can develop alternative mechanisms,” the Heritage Foundation vice president said. “Taiwan had a lot of good data, a lot of good insight. They’ve been excluded from the WHO. So, you’re going to want an international, cooperative, global health events network that includes Taiwan.”
Chinese officials have attempted to deflect questions about the pandemic by suggesting the contagion originated within the U.S. Army, an allegation that Chinese officials renewed this week in the face of growing suspicions that the pandemic might have started with a laboratory accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“The U.S. Intelligence Community does not know exactly where, when, or how the COVID-19 virus was transmitted initially but has coalesced around two likely scenarios: Either it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals, or it was a laboratory accident,” said Amanda Schoch, the assistant director of national intelligence for strategic communications, on Thursday. “The IC continues to examine all available evidence, consider different perspectives, and aggressively collect and analyze new information to identify the virus’s origins.”
A senior Chinese diplomat attacked the U.S. intelligence community Thursday by invoking their errors before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also faulted the U.S. government for giving credence to the White Helmets, a humanitarian organization renowned for aiding civilians in the Syrian civil war.
“The motive and purpose of the U.S.-driven ‘investigation’ relying on its intelligence apparatus is crystal clear,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. “In fact, U.S. intelligence has a notorious track record, as the world has learned a long time ago. Its masterpieces include the test tube of laundry powder, which was cited as evidence for weapons of mass destruction, and the staged ‘White Helmets’ video.”
That attack on the White Helmets amplifies a disinformation campaign launched on behalf of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.
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“The Chinese were not transparent the way they should have been,” the Baltic official said. “And now with the reaction to this recent Biden administration move, I think that also might be another proof that China has something to hide.”
