Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., says the coronavirus outbreak is a "deadly consequence of the Chinese Communist Party's malfeasance and misrule."
Sasse made his comments in a column for USA Today posted Wednesday.
"And, as has been the case for so much of the CCP's seven-decade hegemony, the cruel irony is that the people of China are its main victims," he wrote.
"More than 42,000 Chinese people have been diagnosed with coronavirus since the outbreak began in the city of Wuhan in December — many times the number who contracted SARS in 2002-03 worldwide."
And he added: "More than 1,000 people have died, and nearly 60 million people are in lockdown."
But he noted that it does not have to be this way. Citing a report in The New York Times, Sasse maintained that Chinese officials failed to act for more than a month when the first case appeared in early December.
"When a Wuhan doctor, Li Wenliang, tried to warn his medical school classmates that an unfamiliar illness was ravaging Wuhan Central Hospital, he and his classmates were silenced by local authorities, who threatened to punish anyone 'spreading rumors' and 'disrupting social order.'
"By the time authorities finally acknowledged what was happening, a full blown epidemic was underway. In an additional tragic turn: Dr. Li contracted coronavirus while treating patients. The ophthalmologist died last Friday at the age of 34."
Sasse said Li's courage made him an enemy of the Chinese Communist Party.
"Communism is the perfect incubator for the coronavirus," he wrote. "China's predatory system preys on its own people."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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