“Chinese doctors have designated the Belgrade Fair as a massive Covid hospital.” “Chinese doctors have said that Serbia needs to close hermetically.” “Chinese doctors have said that the VMA is not suitable for patient accommodation.” “Chinese doctors suggest the strictest measures….” In what capacity are Chinese doctors actually saying and suggesting this?

Did they beat Covid 19 in their home country? Are there no longer infected, so now they advise us? Have their measures resulted in the lowest number of deaths among them…? Everything we know about the number of people infected in China, about the number of people cured, the number of deaths … we know only through the well-controlled propaganda of the regime in Beijing, or the Communist Party.

With the pressure of the world public, and most of all America and the UK, the Chinese have announced a new death toll from coronavirus – half as high as previously claimed!? And what now? The British foreign minister has said that after all this, China will have to answer some very difficult and embarrassing questions. Trump and America are claiming China’s responsibility and demand paying to all humanity for the damage they’ve done by hiding virus data, lying about the number of infected, how the virus is transmitted, and everything related to Covid 19.

Based on the rigged results of the fight success against Covid 19, without any serious confirmation of the effectiveness of their methods (nor does anyone know exactly what their methods were), we a priori accept that our national fight against the Covid 19 epidemic is led by Chinese doctors. It is brave but also irresponsible, and it can prove to be very dangerous. The Chinese are not bound by any signed treaty or interstate agreement, nor are they held accountable if their councils fail to produce the desired results and the number of infected is even higher and the death toll increases. They will pack their suitcases and return to their provinces in China. And as soon as they arrive, they will not first report on their performance in Serbia to fellow epidemiologists, but to their party committees.

I am talking here about the potential damage to the health of our citizens and their lives. I do not want to speak about the real political damage of glorifying China and its leadership at this time. But there are a few things to mention:

Even if there was no doubt as to the credibility of the Chinese anti-virus data, the behavior of this country after the first wave of the epidemic indicates that it wanted to hide something. Even as its citizens died in hospitals in the hundreds, China embarked on a strong international offensive to offer assistance of every kind to everyone in need. Europe, and especially Italy, while still in shock of the rapid spread of the virus, were, to the delight of Beijing, the first major recipients of this assistance.

The goal of this offensive was soon made clear, China wanted to declare itself the world champion in the fight against the Covid and share that glory with everyone, replacing the narrative that followed so far, that it was actually a world champion in the emergence of new viruses and their transmission to the world. This “soft power” offensive is the most drastic example of China’s new foreign policy strategy, inaugurated by Xi Jinping, which is a way out of traditional Chinese disinterest in world affairs and a strong involvement in global developments in which it wants to be a first-rate player. Alleged Chinese aid to the world to fight the Corona is already being overshadowed by the One Belt One Road project in its ambition to include China at the top of global political actors.

China took advantage of the fact that before the outbreak of the epidemic, it was almost a monopolist in the manufacture of medical masks (about 80 percent of world production) and protective gloves, goods that became increasingly necessary for everyone overnight but could not reach them due to the universal closure of borders. Beijing quickly realized that, in addition to its fat profits, it had a strong trump card for its own promotion and hundreds of cargo planes flew from east to west. When necessary, few ask about the price and who the seller is. And the seller, for example, was also able to requisition those days for complete production of medical masks by the Canadian company Medicom, which has three mask factories in China. When a deadly virus knocks on the door, few ask about the robbery of private property.

Fortunately, the world is well on its way to fighting the mean Chinese deception. Its curve started to decline. Thanks to all that is missing in China – scholars with moral and professional credibility, institutions with democratic capacity and objective media. Thanks to the free and open world, which at one point was hit by the authoritarian virus.

The vast majority of democratic and civilized states view China as the manipulator of infection data and someone who covers up the vital information from the world. It is recognized as a state that is consciously threatening global security and as such does not deserve a place of equal status in the world community. It has been labeled a factor that corrupts the joint global health authorities (World Health Organization), thereby directly undermining the pillar of global defense against mass infections. And as someone who acts as an irreparable returnee, given that Covid 19 is already the third or fourth mega-virus, originating in China and causing global consequences, China may face strong international isolation, above all its efforts to play the role of a strong global political, economic, and even cultural leader. It cannot do this solely because of the authoritarian nature of its regime. The Beijing Central Committee, it turns out, is not an obstacle to China’s economic opening, nor to its acceptance into the global open society. But it can be, and is, a nuisance to the basic, hygienic and health global order, which with Covid 19 has proven in the most terrible form. Each state will have to figure out for itself whether and to what extent it should cooperate with a state whose system allows the lethal infection to spread to the entire planet. And that will have to be decided very quickly. Because no one knows when a new, modified Covid can follow, and it is no longer a question from where.