Page 8 - HQ May June July 2020

Statement on COVID19 & China by

Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Bo, President of Asian Bishops

Cardinal Bo - Archdiocese Of Yangon Website

3/4/20 - Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar, and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences
(FABC), ‘The Chinese Regime and its moral culpability to the global contagion – COVID-19’ (1/4/20) (https://zenit.org/articles/
statement-on-covid19-china-by-myanmars-cardinal-bo-president-of-asian-bishops/) and reprinted with kind permiassion.
o corner of the world is untouched by this long been the primary victims of their repressive re-
pandemic, no life unaffected... By the time this gime. They deserve our sympathy, our solidarity and
N[pandemic] is over the global death toll is ex- our support. ...
pected to be millions. When the virus first emerged, the authorities in
International voices are raised against the negli- China suppressed the news. Instead of protecting the
gent attitude shown by China, especially its despot- public and supporting doctors, the CCP silenced the
ic Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by its strong whistleblowers. Worse than that, doctors who tried to
man, Xi. The London Telegraph on 29 March 2020, raise the alarm...were ordered by the police to “stop
said the local Health Minister accused China of hiding making false comments”. ...Young citizen journalists
the true scale of the coronavirus...reopening of ‘wet’ who tried to report on the virus then disappeared.
markets...identified as the source of the spread of the Once the truth became known, the CCP rejected
virus. James Kraska, an esteemed Professor of Law, initial offers of help. The U.S. Center for Disease Con-
writing in the latest issue of War on Rocks, 23, March trol and Prevention was ignored by Beijing... [E]ven
2020, says China is legally responsible for COVID-19 the World Health Organisation, although it collabo-
and claims could be made in the trillions of dollars. ... rates closely with the Chinese regime, was initially
In my own country, Myanmar, we are extremely sidelined. ... [T]here is deep concern that the Chinese
vulnerable. The country borders China, where COV- regime’s official statistics significantly downplayed the
ID-19 first began. We are a poor nation without the scale of infection within China.
health and social care resources that more developed The CCP’s conduct is symptomatic of its increas-
nations have. Hundreds of thousands of people in ingly repressive nature. ...Through its inhumane and
Myanmar are displaced by conflict, living in camps in irresponsible handling of the coronavirus, the CCP has
the country or on our borders without adequate sani- proven...that it is a threat to the world. China as a coun-
tation, medicines or other care. In such overcrowded try is a great and ancient civilization that has contrib-
camps, the “social distancing” measures implement- uted so much to the world throughout history but this
ed by many countries are impossible to apply. The regime is responsible, by its criminal negligence and
healthcare systems in the most advanced countries in repression, for the pandemic sweeping through our
the world are overwhelmed, so imagine the dangers in streets today...and the CCP — not its people — owes
a poor and conflict-ridden country like Myanmar. us all an apology, and compensation for the destruc-
As we survey the damage done to lives around the tion it has caused. At a minimum, it should write off
world we must ask who is responsible? ... [T]here is the debts of other countries to cover the cost of Cov-
one government that has primary responsibility, ...and id-19. For the sake of our common humanity, we must
that is the CCP regime in Beijing. Let me be clear – it is not be afraid to hold this regime to account. Christians
the CCP that has been responsible, not the people of believe, in the words of Jesus, that “the truth will set
China, and no one should respond to this crisis with you free.” Truth and freedom are the twin pillars on
racial hatred towards the Chinese. Indeed, the Chinese which all our nations must build surer and stronger
people were the first victims of this virus and have foundations. V

8 MICHAEL May/June/July 2020 www.michaeljournal.org