Pedestrians walk along a side street near Times Square in New York, the US, March 21, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continued to accuse China on Monday. With the push from Washington, some British officials have also begun complaining about so-called China's disinformation campaign. In the meantime, queries on China have increased in Western media outlets' reports. But this cannot represent the entire public opinion in the West. Criticism of the US and Britain is of a similar amount, suggesting the two countries' real intention is to pass the buck to China. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weakness and idleness of some Western governments in handling an emergency. Some officials in the West tried to make China a scapegoat of their incompetence, demonstrating how shameless Western politicians can be. Those politicians care only about their personal political interests and are not capable of leading a battle against the coronavirus. Hence, they are disrupting public opinion in an attempt to cover their inability.

No official in the US or Britain or any other Western country has reportedly been held accountable and removed from their position due to gross neglect of duty that led to the dire outbreak in their countries. The lawmakers always have excuses for whatever they do. 

The US and British governments are not too busy to reflect on their flawed handling of the virus. In contrast, officials in the two countries seem to have been engaged in reflection - they have nitpicked on China and made it a target for their people to vent anger. They are genuine politicians who have been figuring a way to pull themselves unscathed from the catastrophe rather than focused on how to plug in the loopholes to flatten the curve.

It is absurd to accuse China of a disinformation campaign or attempt to hold China accountable. And this cannot and will not stop US and British societies from digging out the real reason and criticizing those who made them suffer the pandemic. 

Accusing China of spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic runs counter to common sense. As early as at the start of January, China had notified the WHO and relevant countries of the epidemic, but all sides including China lacked awareness of the severity of the coronavirus at that time. Then China warned of human-to-human transmission on January 20 and locked down Wuhan on January 23, showing the world the severity of the epidemic with action. 

Politicians in the US, UK and other countries looked at China with indifference and were busy taking pleasure from China's misfortune. They remained blindly optimistic even when South Korea, Italy and Iran entered perilous situations. Their performance at that time was really shameful.

It is a daydream for some Western politicians to make China accountable and ask for compensation. There is no legal basis for it. Given their so-called mechanism of compensation, then how much money should the US pay for the AIDS and the H1N1 pandemic it brought upon the world? 

China is no longer a country that can be bullied by foreigners. Some US and British politicians might still linger in a dream of the good old days. 

Some Westerners are stubbornly against the world's solidarity in battling the pandemic. They will be more disgusting to the international community as the fight becomes fiercer. China should counterattack their vicious rhetoric but should not be distracted by them. As long as China focuses on morality and justice, comprehensively aiding other countries' fight against the pandemic, those filthy politicians will never be able to blot out China's sacrifice, contributions, and achievements in this crucial battle.