KAOHSIUNG (Taiwan News) — There is only one word to describe the official response to the novel coronavirus outbreak that continues to rampage through Communist China and spread slowly but surely to other countries around the globe — shambolic.

We should expect little more from the Chinese communist dictatorship. The very nature of the communist system in China means that anyone who threatens to rock the boat by suggesting that something has gone wrong is quickly stamped down on to ensure stability.

That is why, when Li Wenliang (李文亮), the 34-year old doctor from Wuhan, raised concerns about the emergence of a SARS-like virus in the city as early as December he was detained and taken to the local public security bureau and accused of “spreading false rumors.” He was only released after promising not to share his concerns publicly and was warned he would be “brought to justice” if he did.

That a state should react in this way to a medical professional raising legitimate concerns would be shocking and a huge scandal in any other country. In Communist China, this is the norm.

Stability is prized above everything else, including public health. Why? Because stability is seen as key to ensuring the Communist Party retains its grip on power.

This is drummed into state officials at all levels. The Wuhan public security bureau officials would not even have considered the possibility that Li Wenliang might be right.

Their job is to maintain local security and stability. Li Wenliang’s claims threatened that, so, in their eyes, he was the problem. Whether his concerns were true or not was irrelevant.

This is the fundamental flaw of a single party, totalitarian state like Communist China. There is no accountability at any level.

It is not the public security bureau officials that are to blame for the subsequent international health crisis and the thousands of deaths it has led to, including Li Wenliang. It is a systemic problem that can only be resolved by regime change in China.

Could Wuhan virus topple China regime?

There are a number of reasons to think that this pandemic, while tragic on so many levels, could ultimately offer the hope that the Chinese Communist Party will ultimately be defeated as a result of its spread.

Lots of people in China are angry at the way the regime has abandoned them. A total of 34 cities have so far been placed in lock down. This approach, which some medical experts have described as “medieval,” basically involves stopping anyone from leaving the city.

But for the millions of people inside these locked-down cities, life is grim. Food and supplies are running low. Medical provisions are at a premium and communication with the outside world is hard.

If they are diagnosed with the virus, things are even bleaker. Many will be forcibly locked inside their homes by law enforcement officers.

They are the lucky ones. Others will be forcibly taken to quarantine facilities that have been lauded by the outside world for being set up so quickly, but which in reality are little more than prison camps.

Many have no toilets or bathrooms and patients and suspected patients are forced together in close confines. The conditions are ideal to help a virus spread and these people know they are essentially being sacrificed to try and save others who haven’t got the virus yet. It is utterly inhumane.

While this catastrophe plays out, the Communist Party has ramped up censorship to prevent its people from learning the truth and continues to feed the outside world with a steady stream of propaganda designed to show they have everything under control.

Alongside public anger, there is also a mounting economic crisis as China is at a standstill. Companies across the country are either moving their production overseas or simply shutting down.

Then, there is the continued falsification of information about the outbreak. Just about every credible expert has questioned the official figures of how many people have been infected and how many have died. Yet, the communist regime continues to take the world for fools.

How the WHO enables CCP

Shockingly, their chief enabler in this process is the World Health Organization (WHO), the very body tasked with getting this pandemic under control. They have consistently accepted China’s false data and insincere reassurances and at the same time urged the outside world not to stop flights or doing business with China.

There is zero medical justification for this stance and the only conclusion people can reasonably reach is that they are working hand-in-hand with the communist regime. Little wonder that most countries around the world, including Taiwan, have ignored their advice and placed restrictions on travel to and from China.

Taiwan’s treatment has been especially unforgivable. Despite being on the front line, they have been locked out of WHO discussion on the pandemic and the country’s considerable expertise on relevant medical matters ignored.

Little wonder then that officials here have profoundly disagreed with many WHO decisions, including repeatedly changing the name of the virus.

Why Wuhan Virus is right name

As the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said in a statement earlier this week, these name changes could easily confuse members of the public. They plan to stick with the term ‘Wuhan Virus,’ which is how coronavirus is commonly referred to by Taiwanese, in Mandarin.

We absolutely agree with the assessment of the CECC and condemn the handling of this outbreak by both WHO and the Chinese communist regime. The only reason WHO is keen to stop the use of the term Wuhan virus is to try and dissociate this pandemic with its root cause — China’s communist regime.

Until both WHO and the CCP begin acting responsibly and honestly about the extent of this crisis and make saving lives their top priority rather than the preservation of the communist regime, we will be doing the same.

So on these pages, we will be writing about the Wuhan virus pandemic rather than the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), until either the crisis is handled responsibly, or the Chinese regime is replaced by a more competent and accountable government.