US shown up for its unabashed arrogance

On top of the sudden, common test being faced by humans all over the world is an even darker cloud-a surge of stigmatizing voices from the United States and some Western European countries.

The noises grow louder as the US' failure to effectively cope with the novel coronavirus pandemic is laid bare. China has managed to curb domestic cases, with Wuhan clearing its last hospitalized patient of COVID-19 on April 26.

Not long ago, US officials were still boasting about their control of the virus. But, soon after, the pandemic exposed the unpreparedness of the US-that the world's most powerful nation just did not have enough medical supplies, comparable to the so-called third world.

Their arrogance that "the virus is Asian" and that their own health systems are stronger has been their pitfall.

Among those leading the crusade against China has been US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, attacking China with regard to the name of the virus and its origin, over donations, and over the sharing of information.

All the blatant accusations without evidence point to political paranoia in the current US administration. Their mishandling of the crisis may well jeopardize the chances of US President Donald Trump being reelected later this year.

A 57-page strategy document issued by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and revealed by US media employs a multipronged assault against China and teaches the world how US politicians are spreading fake news and pushing to scapegoat China. The sheer ill will reminds us of the brutality and arrogance of white colonialists.

If US politicians feel no shame in ignoring truth, the echoing attitude of some Western media against China suggests widespread hubris that the West can always find justification for its actions, while doubting or even denouncing the progress of others.

Fox News in the US seems to be following Republican guidelines, circulating untrue accusations against China and promoting a rather ludicrous and extortionate legal suit against China for COVID-19 damages.

The media outlets that prop up a blame game by the world's single hegemonic power are forgetting it was the US that dared to use bacteriological warfare against Korean and Chinese soldiers during the Korean War in the 1950s and against the Vietnamese in the late 1960s, and that it was the US and some other Western powers that framed people in Iraq and Syria time and again for alleged possession of chemical weapons and faked attacks on civilians.

History will not allow that the country first to confront the novel coronavirus and first to successfully combat the new challenge through its own initiative to be condemned as the cause of the pandemic.

China's success in containing the pandemic, and its assistance to other sufferers, has made the imperialist politicians even more upbeat in attacking China. Yet this just exposes the West's view of leadership as some form of superiority and dominance.

From these attacks we see the harbingers of extreme bigotry, blind superiority, discrimination and contempt for others, by selfish politicians and white supremacists who claim that a certain tribe is the chosen people of their God.

Those strongmen and so-called intelligentsia in the West cannot accept China, or any other Asian or African country, leading in charting the course of human destiny. They cannot conceive that the awaited emergence of China as an economic power should be welcomed as an epochal change in the history of mankind.

Their ingrained prejudice and hubris are reinforced by hegemony and chauvinism because of the lucrative income from minerals, oil and agricultural products, for which foreign corporations induce cartels and protectionism and even sell arms to generate conflict.

To the developing world, the most visible traces of Western empires are their subjugation and exploitation of other peoples. China happens to be the top target for its rise, and more so for its success in beating COVID-19, which so embarrasses the world's sole superpower.

To long for the continuing exploitation of others has to be taken as a residue of the slavery, colonialism and imperialism championed by Western powers for centuries. Such practices brought untold riches to the capitalists, and exacerbated underdevelopment, poverty, hunger, misery, disease, ignorance and strife.

Like the virus that came and will be yoked, such political toxins must be buried by us-modern humankind. We have withstood many viruses, and will be more interconnected and more resilient in access to healthcare and equality among peoples.

The author, a Manila-based political analyst and columnist with The Manila Standard, is author of Labor-Only Contracting in a "Cabo" Economy.