What Has China Managed to Do: A Lesson to Us All?

“China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.”, a quote that was very prominently expressed by Napoleon Bonaparte, many centuries ago. What made the Frenchman be very certain about the future of China and could we consider this as a prognostication of China emerging as one of the fastest growing economy and posing as a threat to the US? Whilst the ongoing trade war between the US and China has been posing as a concern to the international community, we can all agree that the novel coronavirus being declared as a pandemic outbreak has more repercussions to the global market, than the trade war itself. 

 

It was rumoured that the coronavirus is the result of biological warfare, ignited by the Chinese government. True or not, it is up to them to accept: as the saying goes, innocent until proven guilty. The thing is that there were lethal viruses that came into picture before Covid-19: such as Ebola, rabies, HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), MERS-CoV. These viruses had originated from different regions of the world and have caused equal destruction to humanity.  

 

Why is it that Covid-19 had received such notoriety? It is because we are made aware by the Chinese government itself about the virus. China is well known for its censorship measurements. However, placing aside the biological warfare claim, we should applaud a government of such communistic workings to create awareness about the outbreak itself? The news, as mandated by them, could have been suppressed by the authorities. Yet, what came next was an expected series of occurrences: 11 million people locked down whilst transportation services being suspended, building a quarantine hospital in 10 days, to sending their health experts to Italy to curb the spreading there and to sending aid to affected nations. What the world should be in awe is the fact that a nation took responsibility for what had occurred and worked tirelessly to prevent things from getting out of hand, and to minimize casualties.  

 

Furthermore, we all should be indebted to China for teaching us a valuable lesson: to carry out our responsibilities and reminding each and every one of us the sense of purpose- a sense of purpose towards humanity. We are all bounded to it, although it is not regulated. A government can impose restrictions but it is up to us to follow it. Here is the take: a police force consisting of 1.5 million people versus citizens of 1.4 billion. That is a ratio of 1:933. It is very easy for us to claim the restriction as a breach of human rights but as civilized people, we trusted our country heads and breezed it all. So, thank you all for making this possible. And to China, thank you for waking up and doing the right thing, whilst “moving the world” to do the same. Right now, it is not the trade war we should all be focused on: it is all for all of us to unify ourselves for this war of humanity – we are at war, war with gender inequality, poverty, unemployment, inaccessibility to food supply. To the frontliners: thank you for paving the way for us to follow with, acting as the first line of defence, and redefining warriors as peacekeepers.