MINSK, 19 February (BelTA) - Belarus is concerned over the anti-Chinese sentiments in the world because of COVID-19. The problem was raised during the regular meeting of the Expert Community project “Coronavirus: Economy of Fear” in BelTA's press center in Minsk on 19 February.
The mankind has turned out to be unprepared to join forces to fight against the coronavirus. Vadim Sugak, the head of the Belarusian-Chinese Research Center, said that "we are observing the anti-Chinese movement rather than the anti-virus movement in the global community." "There is some kind of latent racism against the Chinese," he lamented.
The experts stressed that Belarus has showed a positive example, being among the first countries to send humanitarian aid to China. Belarus understands that the very fact of such friendly support was important for Chinese partners.
When asked by journalists, Vadim Sugak noted that all statements about the coronavirus affecting only representatives of Asian peoples have already been refuted. “The idea with the ethnovirus is good for all sorts of channels to lure more subscribers,” the head of the Belt and Road center said. He was also critical of other rumors spread by mass media about the coronavirus, in particular about the laboratory that caused the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. In fact, it is located 20-30km away from the city. “There is a Chinese proverb: a stone flying down has thousands of reasons not to reach the bottom. Here as well, there are thousands of reasons to justify what is not not there,” he summed up.
