China was in violation of International Health Regulations. What do we do now?

MARCUS KOLGA, E.P. MENDES, S. TEICH, Macleans, May 2020

As we look towards a post-coronavirus world, we must seek accountability for the human toll and economic devastation that this virus has wrought.

Given that China’s negligence enabled the spread of COVID-19, there are growing international calls to hold them to account, and Canada, which has a number of options available to it, needs to join the chorus.

The Chinese government was responsible for collecting data about its spread and promptly informing the World Health Organization (WHO), governments and scientists around the world. Instead, China suppressed, falsified and obfuscated data and repressed advanced warnings about the contagion as early as December, well before the start of the global pandemic. The Chinese government also joined Moscow in exploiting confusion around the pandemic by engaging in information warfare through blatant disinformation on the origins of the virus, suggesting it was developed as a tool for U.S. biological warfare.

In recent weeks, Beijing’s focus has shifted towards promoting “humanitarian engagement”. Chinese ‘‘aid’’ has included COVID-19 test kits and personal protective equipment (PPE), turning out to be faulty in many cases. Several European countries have even banned their import. Last week, the Canadian government announced that one million face masks recently purchased from China failed to meet standards and would be returned.

Critics of Chinese government policy, including Canadians, are regularly and irrationally labelled as being anti­ Chinese, racist or worse. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) recently co-sponsored an international open letter calling on western governments to conduct a “critical evaluation of the impact of Chinese Communist Party policies on the lives of Chinese citizens and citizens around the world,” and the letter was quickly condemned by the Chinese embassy in Ottawa.

Among the tools available to Canada and its allies is Magnitsky human rights legislation, which if fully implemented and utilized, would allow governments to target and sanction foreign officials who have engaged in corruption and human rights abuse, with asset freezes and visa bans.

The Canadian government, while targeting officials in some of the world’s most repressive regimes, have avoided sanctioning Chinese officials. Chinese government officials responsible for the detention of up to two million ethnic Uyghurs in forced labour camps should be placed on Canada’s Magnitsky list, as well as those responsible for the violent crackdown on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists.

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