On 17 September, 2022, Dr Wu Zunyou, China’s chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first monkeypox case in China. At the same briefing on Weibo he warned against contact with foreigners. "It is necessary and important to strengthen the monitoring and prevention of monkeypox," Wu wrote in his post, emphasizing the risk of disease spreading through international travel and close contact. He gave five recommendations for the public -- the first being, "Do not have skin-to-skin contact with foreigners."1
China’s population is 91% Han Chinese. The other 8-9% are of Asian descent. Approximately 200,000 foreigners reside in China. China is one of the most homogenous countries in the world and has been accused of genocide against Uyghurs, who are of a different ethnicity and religion. Dr Wu’s statement appears racist in its call for ostracizing all people in China who don’t look like the 91% Han Chinese. Further, monkeypox is an STD and the first monkeypox clusters were in ‘Westerners’ who practiced deviant sexual behaviors. Thus, Dr Wu could be describing all Westerners as sexually deviant.
From a common sense standpoint, such a recommendation could be considered pragmatic in that the index case was a non-Han Chinese westerner. Further, every country in every era of time has had racism embedded in its culture. Thus, whether Wu’s statement was meant to be racist or not, it is not too far fetched to see how a public advocate could make such a recommendation about a specific group of people. However, China has a habit of subjugating humans who don’t look like them within and without their borders.
The problem is that US politicians and medical entities have given Dr Wu’s comment a complete pass. When former President Trump restricted travel with China in early 2020, he was called a xenophobe. The same commentators later interestingly criticized him for not taking that exact action earlier, but didn’t take back the racist moniker. The next year, when ‘their’ President restricted travel to 8 southern African nations when omicron emerged (despite the correct observations and pleas from South African health leaders not to), Biden received no such criticism. Within the medical community, doctors have criticized Trump’s ‘xenophobia.’ The American College of Emergency Physicians even went as far as issuing a statement in mid 2020 stating “The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) denounces racism and all senseless acts of violence. Racism is a social determinant of health.” ACEP was quiet over Biden’s restrictions placed against Black African nations and has similarly been quiet concerning Dr Wu’s post.
Three conclusions emerge from the latest statement involving policy recommendations along racial lines. 1. China is a ‘world’ phobic society that discriminates against non-Han Chinese. 2. Woke Westerners only decry racism when it involves a political enemy (ie Trump and Republicans). 3. Woke Westerners continue to give China a pass on their racist and genocidal policies, possibly out of admiration of Marxism that drives CRT and other blessings they hope to force on the Western World. Ie – the Woke don’t want to insult their friends.
The rest of us should take note. Woke politicians and doctors are proudly standing up to be counted with the enemies of freedom and human decency.
John Hughes, MD
Emergency Physician
USMA Class of 1996
3rd Generation West Pointer
4 combat tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan
1https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/18/china/china-monkeypox-wu-zunyou-foreigners-intl-hnk/index.html
