China - to trust or not to trust?

We are strange creatures indeed, we westerners, suddenly faced with a world health crisis probably originating in China. Until yesterday China was a good place, providing us with all sorts of useful products, many developed and designed by us, at prices we could only dream of if we were to produce them ourselves. So what if the people producing our shit - I use the word loosely - were only allowed to sleep for only a few hours a day and were obliged to live a slave-like existence; we were happy to benefit, closed our eyes and ears and allowed life to continue to our benefit.

Then coronavirus appeared, the one leading to Covid-19 and, possibly, a painful death for anyone contracting it. China seems to be where it first appeared - Wuhan specifically - and from there it spread like fire all over the globe, infecting people left, right and centre. Much speculation on the origins has occurred all over, with conspiracy theories blaming China, the US or whomever, but China has always figured as the main culprit, unwittingly or not - was it a result of little Chinamen happily munching an infected bat or two over a cup of rice wine or an escapee from a secretive virus-creating laboratory residing in Wuhan?

Yes, the official China reacted badly initially, underestimating the potential problem and trying to hide things under a veil of silence; totalitarian regimes work like that to protect their interests, unsurprisingly. Yes, it has been proven to have been a misguided, wrong move that had disastrous consequences, but then turned around and worked wonders by instituting draconian restrictive measures and generally tackling the virus head-on, with so far seemingly remarkable results.

Now we in the West have started attacking China as dishonest and dishonourable, claiming not only that they hid things at the outset but that they are lying through their teeth now, providing false numbers relevant to Covid-19 etc. Furthermore, we are accusing China of using the provision of their assistance in this general time of need for empire building and as a benefit to their long-term plans.

There is a wonderful book by Peter Frankopan, The New Silk Roads, that analyses and tackles these issues both in detail and in context, so they should come as no surprise for they are not new, but have been going on for some time now. Why are we acting surprised? Do we find it convenient? It is both stupid and untimely to analyse China's role in this matter and in this way, especially given the lack of proof. Given the fact that we are still grappling with this disease without a hint of and end or a cure, nor indeed specific analyses of the precise origins of this disaster, is in not best to wait until all is known before apportioning blame?

Now is not the time for recriminations, especially given the interdependence within most of the world. Much of the Western world now wagging fingers in China's face are also largely dependent on China's productive capabilities, is that not a recipe for disaster? What about fairness, which the Western world used selectively in years gone by to abuse not only China but large parts of the rest of the globe. China may well be (or not) to blame for everything to do with this, but prove it we must before engaging in righteous polemics and attacking hither and thither. Whether we like it or not we live in an interconnected world, largely of our creation, that needs to be managed sensibly. Neither we, nor anyone else, can send the gunboats in anymore - empires belong to the past and stay there they must; proper procedures for establishing fault must be followed.

Jaw-jaw must prevail, for war-war, even of the commercial kind, will lead to destruction and mutual loss. It should be seen as a last resort, not an act of whim and folly.