China nowadays is in the news as the epic center of the spread of worldwide killing disease, known as the Novel Corona Virus. However, it has come out successfully from the worst and one of the deadliest epidemics in its history, losing more than 3000 human lives.
On Saturday, China mourned the thousands of “martyrs” who have died in the Corona Virus outbreak. The National Flag of China flown at the half-mast across the country and all forms of entertainment remained suspended. At 10:00 a.m. Beijing Time, the country observed a three-minute silence to mourn those who have died, whereas in Wuhan (The center point city of his epidemic), all traffic lights turned red too in remembrance of the martyrs.
Among those who died, includes “Dr. Li Wenliang” too, who was specially honored by the Hubei Provincial Government. But that honor comes with a despotic price.
Dr. Li Wenliang – Unfortunate citizen living under an Authoritarian State!
Dr Li, a young ophthalmologist, was the very first doctor who tried to raise the alarm about the COVID-19 disease and its deadly outbreak. On December 30, he sent a message to his fellow doctors in a group chat warning them to wear PPE’s (Personal Protective Equipment) to avoid this infection.
Then what could happen under an authoritarian state? Four days later, he was reprimanded by the Police (Public Security Bureau) and accused of “spreading rumors and misinformation” that had severely disturbed the social order. What is astonishing here is that, local authorities even later apologized to Dr. Li, after knowing the reality of the disease.
Later on, after one month of sending out the initial warning, Dr. Li Wenliang posted his story on Chinese social site Weibo (equivalent to twitter, under the authority of the govt), in which he describes how on 10 January he started coughing, the next day he had a fever, and within next 2 days he was in hospital. He was diagnosed with Corona Virus on 30 January, and passed away on 7 February while battling with deadly pandemic.
This shows the worst aspect of China’s totalitarian command and control system of governance under the President Xi-Jinping and the Communist Party to remain blind and not to see it.
Yet the same thing occurred at the time of Dr Li’s death. As soon as the news of Dr Li Wenliang’s death broke out, a wave of anger and grief flooded the Chinese Social Site Weibo, with top two trending hashtags “Wuhan Government owes Dr. Li Wenliang and apology” and “We Want Freedom of Speech.”
But these two top trends couldn’t stand against the magic of authoritarian government. Both hashtags were quickly censored by the Chinese Government as they hold the control of the social site Weibo – and Chinese have no access of Twitter and other social sites.
Not The First Time…
This is not the first time, the Chinese Govt have carried out such acts. In fact, what else can you expect from a government who is running the whole country under an authoritarian/dictatorial regime.
Recently, as per the International Media, the Chinese Government also hides the actual number of Corona Virus Covid-19 cases. The International Media refuses the number of Corona Virus patients in China, stating that Chinese Government intentionally hided the actual number of patients and deaths.
The deaths in China, are far more in actual than it has been reported in the National Media, U.S. Intelligence claims.
Such is the cruelty destined to occur in the authoritarian state. What else could expect then?
If the response of Chinese Government to a dangerous health emergency and deadliest outbreak is for the police to harass a doctor trying to blow the whistle, then something is definitely broken in the structure of the state.