Letter: Time to punish virus-spreading, church-crushing China

Several conservative groups have joined together to urge President Donald Trump to hold the Chinese Communist Party responsible for unleashing the coronavirus pandemic on the United States, then lying and profiting from its own sinister actions that have harmed tens of millions around the world. 

Not only are China’s communist leaders responsible for the current pandemic, the letter states, but they represent a threat to the United States itself.

“China is the most significant threat facing America today,” the letter states, “and the American people across party lines believe that China should be treated as the pariah state that it is.”

Those who signed their names represent Americans for Limited Government; National Center for Public Policy; American Family Association; Eagle Forum; and Competitive Enterprise Institute, among others.

AFA spokesman Walker Wildmon says there is widespread consensus that the coronavirus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.

“Now whether the virus got out of the lab accidentally, or whether the Chinese government intentionally released it to cause a pandemic, that's to be determined,” he tells OneNewsNow.

Sandy Rios, a radio show host who is also director of governmental affairs at AFA, signed the letter on behalf of the Mississippi-based ministry.  

In addition to pointing out concerns about the Wuhan lab, the letter points out that China arrested one of its own doctors, Dr. Li Wenliang, for attempting to warn the world about the spreading virus. China also cut off travel from the Hubei province, the epicenter of the virus, but let its people carry the virus out of the country and spread it around the world, the letter also states.

The letter doesn’t stop with those accusations, either, pointing out that China “hoarded” personal protective equipment as the virus spread worldwide, leaving other nations unprepared to protect their medical workers. When tests manufactured in China were sold to those nations, the tests were found to be no good and only worsened the situation.  

China’s barbarous human rights record, its theft of intellectual property, and its manufacture of deadly fentanyl that reaches U.S. shores are also mentioned in the no-holds-barred letter to the President. 

China, meanwhile, is the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States. It is also America’s third-largest trading partner after Canada and Mexico, but China is ranked first in terms of trade deficit, which reached $365 billion in 2019.

The coronavirus pandemic has only reminded critics about China’s multi-billion dollar influence in Hollywood studios, on Wall Street and Capitol Hill, and in the board rooms of major retailers and corporations that rely on slave labor in China to product cheap products to stock shelves in the United States.

Elsewhere in the letter, President Trump is urged to take immediate action to reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese manufacturing of medical products, to investigate the extent of China's role in spreading the virus, and to stop federal funding for universities with the CCP-funded Confucius Institutes.

“These institutes,” the letter warns, “give the Chinese Communist Party an outpost on campuses to recruit spies, steal intellectual property, and monitor Chinese students studying on campus.”

Responding to the virus outbreak, President Trump has given mixed signals. He repeatedly praised China's efforts early on but has referred to COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus" to remind the public where it originated and who is ultimately to blame for it spreading around the globe.

On the issue of China and trade, Trump has said China is watching out for its own interests while he is pursuing his "America First" policy over trade.   

Regarding trade with China, Wildmon says President Trump should impose such heavy tariffs on Chinese-made goods that they will be too costly and Americans will stop buying them.