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James Jay CARAFANO, PhD^

Key takeaways:

1. Even before COVID-19 cases spiked in the U.S., members of Congress were drafting legislation to punish China.

2. Don’t expect Washington to ease the pressure on Beijing.

3. There are still very real concerns that China is lying about its response, including the current numbers and source of infections.

Even before COVID-19 cases spiked in the U.S., members of Congress were drafting legislation to punish China. Odds are the pandemic won’t be the great turning point in Sino-American relations that some anticipate. But don’t expect Washington to ease the pressure on Beijing. That will continue so long as the regime persists in its destabilizing global activities and its relentless attempts to undermine American interests.

It’s no surprise that the plague out of Wuhan brought out the worst in America’s panda skeptics. The Chinese Communist Party’s list of transgressions is long and shameful. But knowing they were dealing with one of the most infectious diseases in modern history and still allowing 7-9 million Chinese New Year celebrants to leave the country – that’s beyond the pale, even by Beijing standards.

The regime exacerbated that wrong with its ham-handed abuse of the global public health community. That included marginalizing Taiwan, one of the world leaders in effectively recognizing and responding to the threat. Then the regime launched an unprecedented propaganda war to shift the blame and promote the Chinese Communist Party as the world leader in the pandemic response (a line of lies sadly parroted by media and pundits in the U.S.).