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Mr Trump, what about the ‘American flu’ and ‘Western financial crisis’?
- There are plenty of contagion incidents, both financial and viral, that would qualify to be named after America if we follow the US president’s notion of origins
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Alex Lo has been an SCMP columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China.
US President Donald Trump so often acts like a spoiled brat that it’s almost endearing. Given how he has made fun of the disabled, women, minorities and many others who don’t meet his standards of American manliness and feminine beauty, it’s hardly surprising he is now insisting on calling Covid-19 “the Chinese virus”, despite the obvious racial overtones.
He is, of course, not the only one. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also likes to refer to it as “the Wuhan virus”. But it was Trump who has doubled down, after being called out for his discriminatory labelling.
Without prompting, he opened a press meeting of the White House Coronavirus Task Force on Wednesday by referring to the “Chinese virus” again.
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When asked why he was going against naming guidance by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), he replied: “Because it comes from China. It’s not racist at all. No, not at all. It comes from China.”
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. There are plenty of contagion incidents, both financial and viral, in recent years, that would qualify to be named after America if we follow Trump’s notion of origins.
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There was the H1N1 pandemic, which emerged in the US in 2009, and spread around the world.
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