re: "China replies" (BP, PostBag, March 25, 2020)
Dear editor,
Dear Yang Yang, Counsellor and Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, what you say in response to the earlier letter from Michael George DeSombre, the US Ambassador to Thailand is largely true, but not entirely. What you fail to say reflects a deadly devotion to ideology above truth and honesty.
The US president is certainly pandering to his populist racism when he deceitfully uses the phrase "Chinese virus." The virus originated in China, but that objective statement of fact is very different to Trump's racist language, which can only be harmful.
However, China is not blameless. Communist officials loyal to the legally protected party dogma suppressed initial reports. Citing the prevention of "public panic," Communist Chinese authorities used unjust Chinese law to harass the good doctor who had initially reported the virus in December last year and who had tried to raise the alarm in a more timely manner that would have saved many lives in China and elsewhere. The heroic Dr Li Wenliang subsequently died of the disease about which he had patriotically tried to alert the Chinese people despite the repressive efforts of the Chinese Communist Party.
Truth and honesty, necessarily supported by strong legal protection of free speech, however ugly, mocking or otherwise offensive that speech might be, are far healthier choices than fanatical devotion to ideological myth.
Felix Qui
_______________________________
The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.
The text as edited was published in PostBag on March 27, 2020, under the title "Facts trump ideology" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1886690/facts-trump-ideology
No comments:
Post a Comment
However strongly dissenting or concurring, politely worded comments are welcome.
Please note, however, that, due to Felix Qui's liability for them, comments must comply with Thai law, and are moderated accordingly.