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Facing the dual challenges of nationwide protests and a climbing coronavirus death toll, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has launched a new wave of attacks against China. "The Chinese Communist Party's callous exploitation of the tragic death of George Floyd to justify its authoritarian denial of basic human dignity exposes its true colors yet again," the political "pundit" asserted in a press statement.
A detailed look at the statement found the anti-China hawk has a mouth of lies as well as a convenient lack of specifics.
Repudiating China's justified actions against Hong Kong rioters, defaming the country's anti-coronavirus efforts and fabricating untruths on Xinjiang's vocational education and training centers, Pompeo boasted about Washington's "decisive" measures on rogue officers, "transparent" pandemic solutions and "robust commitments" to human rights.
Pompeo really should do some research before putting his words in the public domain. A read of U.S. media reports might help. According to the New York Times, of more than 2,600 civilian complaints launched against Minneapolis police officers since 2012, only 15 were disciplined. The harshest punishment? "40 hours of unpaid suspension."
Bring rogue officers to justice? This is a pure lie that cannot even fool a kindergarten child. If the U.S. government, at either state or federal level, could tackle police misconduct, George Floyd, Christopher Burns, Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Jamar Clark and many other black Americans would not have lost their lives.
He might want to take a look at his own department. Politico reported on Tuesday that many State Department workers are questioning why they've heard nothing about Floyd's killing from Pompeo.
Protesters demonstrate outside a burning Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct, in Minneapolis, U.S., May 28, 2020. /AP
And coronavirus response? It's a fact, evidenced by multiple TV appearances, that American politicians wasted months downplaying the virus. As early as January 4, China warned the U.S. of the pneumonia outbreak. That's more than two weeks before the U.S. reported its first confirmed case. Sadly, Pompeo-like "pundits" were too busy labeling the virus a Democratic hoax to take precautionary measures. If it really valued life, would the U.S. lead the world in both coronavirus confirmed cases and deaths?
Pompeo boasts about Washington's "robust commitment to the rule of law, transparency, and unalienable human rights." The reality, as he no doubt knows, is quite different. Police brutality and politicization of the pandemic are vivid demonstrations of Washington's blatant contempt for human rights.
Boasting unswerving advocacy for freedom, Pompeo's anti-China rhetoric itself is suppression of freedom of speech.
"Pompeo and his followers are adept at playing the double standards game: While blatantly interfering into China's domestic affairs with the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and Uygur Human Rights Act, they do not allow China to comment or even report on Floyd's death," Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for U.S. Studies at Fudan University, told CGTN.
Police brutality against black Americans is nothing new in the United States. China's reports on the issue are based on facts. From Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" in 1963 to Floyd's "I can't breathe," racial equality has been and is still a dream out of reach in American society. Reports in China on this sad state of affairs are no different from the accounts in countries across the world, as nations look on aghast at the rampant injustice.
But Washington, having convinced itself of a role as the savior of other countries, is not ready to accept its domestic problems being discussed in the global arena, not to mention by countries it deems problematic. Branding China's fair reporting as propaganda is an easy solution to the conundrum. After all, compared with police brutality and ignorance of the pandemic, attempting to suppress China's freedom of speech is not a big deal for Pompeo and his fellow anti-China hawks.
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is a staunch supporter of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. /VCG
Pompeo has repeatedly fired shots against China, each for different political purposes. "This new wave of attacks is to distract domestic attention from nationwide protests and the virus," Xin said, adding that with the clock ticking down to the presidential election, the political class is straining every nerve to distance itself from criticism.
When the American public was furious about the White House's slow response to the pandemic, American "pundits" blamed China for starting and spreading the virus. Now, with protests against police brutality sweeping from coast to coast, the same "pundits" attributed the unrest to external intervention. In every crisis under the current administration, it is always other countries, not the U.S. itself, that are to blame.
"Racism is a deep-rooted problem in American society. Since U.S. President Donald Trump assumed office, white supremacy tendency has seen an upward trend," Xin told CGTN. This, according to Xin, is the root reason for American police brutality, which eventually triggered the nationwide protests.
Pompeo's solution to these problems are simple: blame and distract. But does it work? Just see how the U.S. has suffered from the coronavirus outbreak. If American politicians could put more effort into curbing the virus than in shifting blame to China, more lives could have been saved. But Pompeo and his friends just follow the same old playbook – they do not seem to have learned a single lesson from the pandemic.
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