Medics transfer a patient on a stretcher from an ambulance outside of Emergency at Coral Gables Hospital where coronavirus patients are treated in Coral Gables near Miami, on August 16, 2021. Photo: CFP

Latest Chinese national youth survey shows that 95.7 percent of young Chinese don't understand US' behavior in the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control. And 98.3 percent of respondents believe that the US is responsible for the worsening global pandemic situation. 

According to domestic news portal cyol.com, the survey was conducted by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China and the Social Survey Center of China Youth Newspaper with 41,332 participants. When asked about what is the most jaw-dropping point about the US' response to the epidemic, 86.7 percent of respondents pointed to its economy-oriented approach and disregard for human life. And 81 percent of respondents said they were surprised that US politicians were busy with elections, delaying the crucial response to the epidemic.

Data shows that more than 75 percent of respondents believe that the US government's lack of common sense and disrespect for science in the fight against the epidemic has led to the prevalence of anti-intellectual ideas, a phenomenon that has also made its response to the pandemic inefficient. The survey also revealed over three quarters of the youth surveyed felt shocked with the rising racism during the epidemic in the US.

For Dong Xinyang (pseudonym), a graduate student of English translation, what stood out the most is US' irresponsibility in response to COVID-19. "The US has the most advanced medical equipment in the world, a large number of health care workers and developed medical research institutions, but the government neglected the threat of the virus," Dong said, adding that it is very irresponsible for the US to issue handouts to try to cover domestic economic depression. 

Another graduate student Li Xin said that she believes one of the major reasons for US' slack response to the pandemic was the presidential elections. The former president Donald Trump claimed that the virus was a hoax in order to win the elections. But this caused the US to miss the best time to respond to the threat of the virus. To this day, the two parties are still arguing over anti-epidemic measures. "The politicization of the epidemic has hampered the US in every way."

More than 60 percent of the surveyed young Chinese believe high cost of medical care, poor policies, hollow industries and lack of anti-epidemic materials contributed heavily to the rapid development of the epidemic in the US.

About 96.1 percent of respondents rated the overall performance of the US in combating the outbreak as "bad," with 86.5% rating it as "very bad." And 95.7 percent of respondents found it hard to understand how the US, as the country with the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world, has been smearing and blaming China instead of focusing on the domestic outbreak control.

As of now, there are nearly 40 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 630,000 deaths in the US.

"The US has a disease of 'enemy hunger,'" said an international relations researcher surnamed Xu, noting that American society lacks internal cohesion but is very concerned about its supremacy. "They consider China an enemy and constantly find ways to fight it. For them, the most important thing is to shirk responsibility and attack China. The US government has not only failed to assume its international responsibility, but has also had a devastating impact on global cooperation against the epidemic."