Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe greets US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper in Bangkok in November. They spoke by phone on Tuesday. Photo: AP
SCMP: Chinese and US defence chiefs discuss coronavirus crisis in phone call
* Country’s fight against the disease a ‘total war’ involving all people, Wei Fenghe says
* Mark Esper expresses willingness to boost exchanges on epidemic control and prevention
Chinese and US defence chiefs discussed the coronavirus epidemic in China during a telephone call late on Tuesday, the first time the heads of the world’s two largest militaries have spoken about the situation.
China’s Defence Minister Wei Fenghe told his US counterpart Mark Esper that the country’s ongoing fight against the deadly disease was a “total war” that involved all people, according to a statement from the Chinese defence ministry.
Wei also said there was a continuing positive trend in the disease control situation.
Esper said he appreciated the efforts that China and its military had made to control the disease, according to the statement. The US secretary of defence also expressed a willingness for closer dialogue and consultation between the two militaries, and to strengthen exchanges and cooperation on epidemic control and prevention.
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WNU Editor: The coronavirus outbreak definitely is impacting the military. My guess is that this phone call was arranged so that an understanding will be agreed upon so that patrols, drills, and exercises will follow certain protocols to minimize any misunderstandings or surprises should they arise.
2 comments:
That, or:
"yo, yo, just checking, you guys didn't release some lame ass virus that kills fewer people than the common cold to only mask it as super virus and tank the global economy thanks to the Chinese videos of hospitals and concentration "camps" that flooded all media for weeks and then tanked European and US markets erasing TRILLIONS.. right, right? you didn't do that, right?
"no, of couse not, we would nevel do this"
"oh ok, good then"
"Yo, yo just checking..." This one clearly appears to be a manufactured crisis. Is this deliberate on the part of our leaders or is this is a case of ideological blindness? Currently I tend to lean in the direction of ideological blindness. Author and commentator Daniel Flynn had much to say about how ideology can make smart people stupid.
For example, experts are supposedly "puzzled" that coronavirus apparently isn't attacking children. This is easily explained based upon observation. Coronavirus kills people who either are elderly with other underlying health conditions or who have compromised immune systems. Since children typically don't have other underlying health conditions nor do they have compromised immune systems, they along with most others aren't going to have a problem with this. If they're infected, they like others not fitting the profile of being elderly with other underlying health conditions or having compromised immune systems will fully recover. The "experts" shouldn't be confused.
As with any infectious disease outbreak, there is a chance albeit extremely remote that it could become the "big one." Right now this is NOT the big one nor is it close. Should it become the big one the hysterical overreaction to this on the front end may make it more difficult to contain and/or mitigate the damage on the back end.
For example, not wishing to be subjected to draconian quarantines it easy to envision people who think they may be infected not seeking medical help or self reporting. People don't typically seek medical help for the common cold and things like Tamiflu will only have marginal efficacy against the flu. It's certainly not worth a draconian quarantines for something they are going to recover from anyway and the flu kills even more people yet we don't take such draconian measures to deal with it.
The manufactured crisis surrounding the coronavirus runs the risk of providing cover for governmental wishing to eliminate those they don't like. Simply mark them down as having coronavirus and eliminate them. It doesn't matter if they actually have the disease or not. There's no government that would do that!! Nah!! (Sarcasm off.) The hysterical overreaction to this certainly makes it easier for certain elements who wish to do this.
Finally, POTUS's leadership of calm and steady resolve has been the proper approach here, however, I think he and his team may have made a mistake by not getting out front in the messaging on this about five weeks ago. This may have allowed false narratives to take root.
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