Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

WHO official denounces stigmatising language such as that used by Donald Trump

‘It’s really important that we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to profiling of individuals associated with the virus,’ says Michael Ryan
The US president has defended his repeated use of the term ‘Chinese virus’

A top World Health Organisation (WHO) official on Wednesday condemned the use of language that could stigmatise certain ethnic groups over the coronavirus outbreak, as US President Donald Trump defended his adoption of the term “Chinese virus”.

“It’s really important that we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to profiling of individuals associated with the virus,” said Mike Ryan, the head of the WHO’s health emergency programmes. “This is just something we need to all avoid.”

As the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed nearly 9,000 lives, has swept through the world, verbal and physical attacks against ethnic Chinese people and others of East Asian descent have swelled.

On Tuesday, Weijia Jiang, a White House correspondent for CBS News, said an administration official had used the term “Kung-Flu” in front of her.


“I’m sure anyone would regret profiling a virus along an ethnic line,” Ryan, who did not mention Trump by name, said on Wednesday.

Briefing reporters on Wednesday with updates in what he called his administration’s “war against the Chinese virus”, Trump was grilled by several journalists over whether such language could fuel rising xenophobic attacks against Asian-Americans.

“It’s not racist at all, no,” he said. “It comes from China, that’s why.”

Trump, who has repeatedly rejected any criticism of his administration’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak, said that Asian-Americans “would probably agree with [the term] 100 per cent”.



Such language, which contravenes WHO guidelines against the use of geographical terms in naming diseases, has elicited a wave of criticism from the US public, advocacy groups and lawmakers – including, contrary to Trump’s estimations, Asian-Americans.

Representative Judy Chu, a Democrat from California, secured a commitment last month from Trump’s secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, to refrain from calling it “China coronavirus”.

“We must ensure that nobody is discriminated against based on ethnicity,” Azar said during a US House hearing. “Ethnicity is not what causes the coronavirus.”


Former US vice-president Joe Biden, who likely will be Trump’s opponent in the November election, also criticised the president’s continued use of the term “Chinese virus”.

“Stop the xenophobic fearmongering. Be honest. Take responsibility. Do your job,” Biden tweeted on Wednesday.

Trump had previously referred to the contagion as the “coronavirus” or, simply “the virus”, but that changed on Monday amid a flurry of remarks by Chinese diplomats who, citing conspiracy theories, suggested that the contagion could have been brought to China by US soldiers competing in the Military World Games in Wuhan in October.

Trump said on Wednesday that such claims were unacceptable. “That can’t happen,” he said. “It’s not going to happen, not as long as I’m president.”

The spat has intensified tensions between Washington and Beijing at a time when WHO officials are calling for a unified global response to the pandemic.

“This is a time for solidarity, this is a time for facts,” Ryan said. “All that we need now is to be able to identify the things we need to do to move forward quickly with speed, with certainty and to avoid any indication of ethnic or other associations of this virus.”

When asked on Wednesday about the purported usage of “Kung-Flu” by a White House official, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said that Jiang, the CBS reporter, should reveal the name of the official, who was not speaking on the record. “I’m not going to engage in hypotheticals,” she said.

Deflecting further questioning over the alleged incident, she said: “I’m married to an Asian.”

Later in the morning, George Conway – her husband and a fierce Trump critic – began sharing posts on Twitter linking to a Washington Post column he penned last year with the headline “Trump is a racist president.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Steve Jobs' Son Launches Venture Capital Firm With $200 Million For Cancer Treatments
Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to 'supercharge' products with A.I.
End of Viagra? FDA approved a gel against erectile dysfunction
UK sanctions Russians judges over dual British national Kara-Murza's trial
US restricts visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders because of security concerns
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Political leader from South Africa, Julius Malema, led violent racist chants at a massive rally on Saturday
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
'I am not your servant': IndiGo crew member, passenger get into row over airline meal
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Spanish Citizenship Granted to Iranian chess player who removed hijab
US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell freezes up, leaves press conference
Speaker McCarthy says the United States House of Representatives is getting ready to impeach Joe Biden.
San Francisco car crash
This camera man is a genius
3D ad in front of Burj Khalifa
Next level gaming
BMW driver…
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
×