Politicizing the epidemic ‘disgraceful’: Martin Jacques

China has done an extremely effective job in dealing with the novel coronavirus pneumonia
(COVID-19) outbreak and Western politicians who have politicized the epidemic and attacked
China's political system as well as the leadership of the Communist Party of China are absolutely
disgraceful, says a British scholar in an exclusive interview with the Global Times.
After more than a month since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in China, the epidemic has been
coming under control inside the country with a significant fall in the number of new confirmed
cases. However, since the outset, there has been much criticism in the West over China's response
to the epidemic, and some Western media and politicians are far more interested in having a dig at
problems of China's political system than fairly evaluating the measures China has taken.
"China is clearly being extremely effective in dealing with the coronavirus," Martin Jacques, who
was a senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge
University and author of When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the
Birth of a New Global Order, told the Global Times. "The capacity of the state in China to deal
with emergencies of this kind is far more developed and far more capable than could be achieved
by any Western government," the scholar said, noting China is the best in handling a big situation.
He attributed this to two reasons: The Chinese state is a very effective institution and the Chinese
people expect the government to take the leadership in coping with this kind of emergency and
would follow it.
There was slowness to respond in the first instance, but this "may be understandable because it
(the virus) was new," Jacques said. He regarded media and politicians who took the chance to
attack China's political system and the CPC as "disgraceful." They responded to the grave crisis in
China "in a way that was completely lacking in compassion" and simply used it "as a stick to beat
China," Jacques noted, adding that their words and deeds have encouraged a certain kind of racism
against all Chinese across the world.
The scholar suggested they listen to the objective assessments of the WHO on China's efforts to
contain the coronavirus. As the COVID-19 spreads around the world, countries and regions are all
in the same boat and have to learn from each other, especially from China, to jointly deal with the
humanitarian issue, Jacques stressed.