More Than 2/3 Of Americans Blame China For Wuhan Virus

Tristan Justice reporting for The Federalist

A new survey unveiled Wednesday reveals more than two-thirds of Americans blame China for the global pandemic over the novel Wuhan coronavirus.

The poll, conducted by the non-profit human rights organization Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) with YouGov, also show roughly two-thirds of the public seeing China as an adversarial competitor amid the health crisis. Only 6 percent reported viewing China as an ally.

Seventy-one percent say China should be “penalized” for its role in epidemic, with 41 percent of this subgroup believing there should be some kind of international sanctions, 33 percent supporting additional tariffs on Chinese goods, and 32 percent wanting the United States to refuse interest on Chinese-held federal bonds.

“We sensed a rising skepticism of China’s claims regarding coronavirus, but it wasn’t until this poll that we saw the full extent by which a majority of Americans directly blame the Chinese government,” said VOC executive director Marion Smith. “The Chinese Communist Party’s lack of transparency, lapses in communication, and spread of misinformation rapidly escalated the spread of the virus and hindered preventative measures on a global scale.”

Since the start of the epidemic that international government officials say originated from a Wuhan lab, China has refused to act in good faith after failing to control the initial outbreak while suppressing whistleblowers raising the alarm over the virus’ severity.

Once the virus inevitably escaped China, the communist regime has lied about every aspect of the new disease, from underreporting cases to hiding critical information from global public health officials scrambling to treat the rapidly spreading pathogen. With a strong grip on the World Health Organization (WHO), the communist regime even coerced the world’s supposed premier public health institution into misleading the globe over how the virus spreads.

As of Tuesday evening, more than 4.2 million infections have been reported worldwide with nearly 300,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and that’s excluding the bulk of unreported cases from the East Asian superpower where the virus originated.

China’s conduct with the complicit WHO has pushed tensions between Washington and Beijing to new heights. Senate lawmakers launched a probe into China’s actions, while President Donald Trump has halted federal funding for the global health institution. House Republicans have also called for an investigation into China and the WHO’s response to the crisis.