Yukong Zhao, an Asian American community leader and Republican Candidate for the 7th Congressional District of Florida, was born in communist China. He knows better than most how the government is not to be trusted.
His father was politically persecuted during China's Cultural Revolution, "which led to extreme poverty, a broken family, and devastating personal loss," he explains on his congressional campaign website.
The coronavirus, COVID-19, originated in Wuhan, China, at a wet market. It's been widely reported how China tried to hide the disease from the rest of the world, leading to the current global pandemic. With the virus bringing American life to a standstill, Zhao is imploring Chinese Americans to ignore China's false, anti-American narrative. He shared this urgent statement in a Monday press release:
Today, America is faced with unprecedented crises in our healthcare and our economy as a result of the sweeping COVID-19 epidemic. Seizing this as an opportune moment, foreign adversaries intentionally spread disinformation and conspiracies to attack America and to divide the Chinese-American community. Instead of apologizing for their early cover-up of this highly contagious disease, some Chinese officials weaponized public opinions to deflect the blame on the U.S. Notably, one Chinese Foreign Ministry official cherry-picked a clip from a U.S. Congress hearing to spread a debunked conspiracy that American military athletes caused the Coronavirus crisis in Wuhan, China. This is simply a propaganda campaign of misinformation, as the head of the Jinyingtan Hospital of Wuhan already clarified that five military athletes treated in the hospital suffered from malaria, not COVID-19. Unfortunately, this reckless lie has harmed the US-China relationship and created serious collateral damages on Chinese Americans on account of the name of the virus.
Hereby, I would like to call upon all patriotic Chinese Americans and legal residents to forcefully reject this baseless lie. Any act of aiding and abetting in spreading this rumor will divide our Chinese-American community, harm America, and deteriorate the US-China relationship. Too many Chinese-American small businesses depend upon the well-functioning of our community, this nation and the US-China bilateral ties.
In addition, I would like to call out to all patriotic Chinese Americans and legal residents to make collaborative efforts to help America. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many Chinese Americans have started to take actions by making generous donations to the CDC Foundation, or purchasing medical supplies from China to donate to American medical facilities. I highly commend their altruistic and patriotic acts and urge more Chinese Americans to follow suit.
When America confronts this historic challenge, we must unite together to defend and help this great nation we all call home!
President Trump has called out China for burying the truth for so long.
"I wish they could have told us earlier about what was going on inside," Trump said at a recent White House briefing with the Coronavirus Task Force. "We didn't know about it until it started coming out publicly."
And when critics try to shame him for calling it the "Chinese virus," he's doubled down.
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