What the international community and Japan should do after COVID-19
CHINO Keiko / Journalist
May 7, 2020
When the novel coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China started spreading to various parts of the world, I felt that it was the beginning of the New War Part II.
When the World Trade Center buildings collapsed under the terrorist attack by the Islamic extremist group Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001, people said, “The world has entered an era of new war.” It was new because it was an asymmetric war of sovereign states versus terrorists, as opposed to the previous pattern of war between sovereign states. This was the New War Part I.
The New War Part II is much tougher to fight. The enemy is invisible and capable of baffling mutations. It apparently has the propensity to grow stronger and stronger. According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, as of May 1, 2020, the total number of confirmed cases was 3,247,648 for the world and 1,053,036 for the United States. The number of deaths was 230,804 in the world and 61,717 in the United States. In comparison, the total number of deaths as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks was 2,996 including the culprits.
There is no end in sight to the expanding spread of infection. But let me stress the following five points as an interim summary of the battle.
Firstly, it is absolutely forbidden to resort to concealment. This pandemic crisis is attributable largely to China’s misstep in the initial stage. Today, China is bent on selling its success story of having brought the spread of infection under control through the lockdown of Wuhan and playing up its assistance to the affected countries. However, its initial misstep was a fatal error that could not possibly be offset by such subsequent actions. How long would President Xi Jinping intend to keep covering it all up?
Secondly, there is a sharp focus on the pro-China stance of WHO (The World Health Organization) and its dysfunction. Director General Tedros Adhanom not only praised China’s measures on the virus but also opposed the U.S. ban on the entry of Chinese nationals and only belatedly declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Consequently, the world ended up with a pandemic.
This was a far cry from the WHO team that went into Beijing in 2003 to investigate the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and questioned the underreporting of the infected cases by the Chinese authorities. Politicization of WHO would mean that the lives that could be saved might not be saved.
Thirdly, the United States and Europe were caught off-guard. Why has there been an explosion of infection not in Asia that is close to the source of infection, but in distant U.S. and Europe? There is no denying the hubris and the lack of vigil that left them uncaring as if they were observing a “fire on the opposite shore”.
Fourthly, failure is the mother of success. Taiwan learned the lesson the hard way from the many deaths due to in-hospital and other infections at the time of SARS, and has taken exemplary measures to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. So has the Republic of Korea, which also learned the lesson the hard way at the time of MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) in 2015.
Japan’s record has been without failures regarding SARS and MERS and, with respect to the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic, it managed to keep the number of deaths at the lowest level in the world. This, however, does not guarantee success for the ongoing challenge. Whether the Japanese can overcome the current pandemic with a somewhat relaxed “Declaration of the State of Emergency” would be a test of their real strength.
Fifthly, social infrastructure, especially medical and welfare budgets, must not be cut down without careful consideration. In fact, there would be a high price to pay for such easy options, as is shown by the dire plight of medical workers in Italy and the high infection rate among the minorities in the United States.
Despite all that, through every dark night, there is bound to be a bright day. Let me look ahead in the medium and long term and mention the following three tasks that the international community and Japan should tackle after COVID-19.
Firstly, we should rethink globalization. The novel coronavirus has been spreading with an astounding speed, bearing no comparison to SARS and MERS, to say nothing of the Spanish Flu in the early 20th century. The coronavirus feeds voraciously on globalization. What are the non-essential and non-urgent activities that we should refrain from? It is not just about physically going out. Aren’t we being asked to rethink our way of life?
Secondly, we should remind ourselves that multilateral cooperation and international organizations continue to be indispensable. No matter what a problem child WHO may be, halting funding as President Trump has intimated or withdrawing from the organization (as the U.S. did from UNESCO) provides no solution. It would only result in enhancing China’s hegemony over those international organizations.
However, WHO urgently needs to reform itself, so that it can restore its impartiality. To that end, broadly based multilateral cooperation including the United States and Europe is called for. This is an opportunity for Japan to exert leadership as a country that has advocated “human security” and considers global health as a matter of high priority.
In parallel with its reform, we should urge WHO, above all, to investigate thoroughly and report on COVID-19. We need to clarify all the suspicions and mysteries surrounding this viral infection, including its place of origin, the route of infection, the countermeasures, the therapeutic drugs, etc. It is essential for the United States and China to cooperate to this end.
Thirdly, environmental protection is more important than ever. It is said that SARS and COVID-19 are carried through the medium of bats. Today, an increasing number of animals, in search of food, are crossing the boundaries separating them from human beings. It would be cataclysmic if the New War III were to start against animals. Let us send bats back to their abodes deep in the woods.
After all, COVID-19 may be a wake-up call for us to rise up from the immersion in the comfort of modern civilization and rethink our way of life.
Chino Keiko is a freelance journalist and Guest Columnist of the Sankei Shimbun.
When the World Trade Center buildings collapsed under the terrorist attack by the Islamic extremist group Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001, people said, “The world has entered an era of new war.” It was new because it was an asymmetric war of sovereign states versus terrorists, as opposed to the previous pattern of war between sovereign states. This was the New War Part I.
The New War Part II is much tougher to fight. The enemy is invisible and capable of baffling mutations. It apparently has the propensity to grow stronger and stronger. According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, as of May 1, 2020, the total number of confirmed cases was 3,247,648 for the world and 1,053,036 for the United States. The number of deaths was 230,804 in the world and 61,717 in the United States. In comparison, the total number of deaths as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks was 2,996 including the culprits.
There is no end in sight to the expanding spread of infection. But let me stress the following five points as an interim summary of the battle.
Firstly, it is absolutely forbidden to resort to concealment. This pandemic crisis is attributable largely to China’s misstep in the initial stage. Today, China is bent on selling its success story of having brought the spread of infection under control through the lockdown of Wuhan and playing up its assistance to the affected countries. However, its initial misstep was a fatal error that could not possibly be offset by such subsequent actions. How long would President Xi Jinping intend to keep covering it all up?
Secondly, there is a sharp focus on the pro-China stance of WHO (The World Health Organization) and its dysfunction. Director General Tedros Adhanom not only praised China’s measures on the virus but also opposed the U.S. ban on the entry of Chinese nationals and only belatedly declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Consequently, the world ended up with a pandemic.
This was a far cry from the WHO team that went into Beijing in 2003 to investigate the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and questioned the underreporting of the infected cases by the Chinese authorities. Politicization of WHO would mean that the lives that could be saved might not be saved.
Thirdly, the United States and Europe were caught off-guard. Why has there been an explosion of infection not in Asia that is close to the source of infection, but in distant U.S. and Europe? There is no denying the hubris and the lack of vigil that left them uncaring as if they were observing a “fire on the opposite shore”.
Fourthly, failure is the mother of success. Taiwan learned the lesson the hard way from the many deaths due to in-hospital and other infections at the time of SARS, and has taken exemplary measures to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. So has the Republic of Korea, which also learned the lesson the hard way at the time of MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) in 2015.
Japan’s record has been without failures regarding SARS and MERS and, with respect to the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic, it managed to keep the number of deaths at the lowest level in the world. This, however, does not guarantee success for the ongoing challenge. Whether the Japanese can overcome the current pandemic with a somewhat relaxed “Declaration of the State of Emergency” would be a test of their real strength.
Fifthly, social infrastructure, especially medical and welfare budgets, must not be cut down without careful consideration. In fact, there would be a high price to pay for such easy options, as is shown by the dire plight of medical workers in Italy and the high infection rate among the minorities in the United States.
Despite all that, through every dark night, there is bound to be a bright day. Let me look ahead in the medium and long term and mention the following three tasks that the international community and Japan should tackle after COVID-19.
Firstly, we should rethink globalization. The novel coronavirus has been spreading with an astounding speed, bearing no comparison to SARS and MERS, to say nothing of the Spanish Flu in the early 20th century. The coronavirus feeds voraciously on globalization. What are the non-essential and non-urgent activities that we should refrain from? It is not just about physically going out. Aren’t we being asked to rethink our way of life?
Secondly, we should remind ourselves that multilateral cooperation and international organizations continue to be indispensable. No matter what a problem child WHO may be, halting funding as President Trump has intimated or withdrawing from the organization (as the U.S. did from UNESCO) provides no solution. It would only result in enhancing China’s hegemony over those international organizations.
However, WHO urgently needs to reform itself, so that it can restore its impartiality. To that end, broadly based multilateral cooperation including the United States and Europe is called for. This is an opportunity for Japan to exert leadership as a country that has advocated “human security” and considers global health as a matter of high priority.
In parallel with its reform, we should urge WHO, above all, to investigate thoroughly and report on COVID-19. We need to clarify all the suspicions and mysteries surrounding this viral infection, including its place of origin, the route of infection, the countermeasures, the therapeutic drugs, etc. It is essential for the United States and China to cooperate to this end.
Thirdly, environmental protection is more important than ever. It is said that SARS and COVID-19 are carried through the medium of bats. Today, an increasing number of animals, in search of food, are crossing the boundaries separating them from human beings. It would be cataclysmic if the New War III were to start against animals. Let us send bats back to their abodes deep in the woods.
After all, COVID-19 may be a wake-up call for us to rise up from the immersion in the comfort of modern civilization and rethink our way of life.
Chino Keiko is a freelance journalist and Guest Columnist of the Sankei Shimbun.
The English-Speaking Union of Japan
コロナ後に国際社会と日本が為すべきこと
千野 境子 / ジャーナリスト
2020年 5月 7日
2019年末、中国・武漢発の新型コロナウイルスが、世界各地に感染を広げて行った時、私は新しい戦争パートⅡの始まりだと思った。
2001年9月11日、ニューヨークの世界貿易センターがイスラム原理主義過激派アルカーイダのテロ攻撃により倒壊した時、「世界は新しい戦争の時代に入った」と言われた。従来型の国対国でなく、国対テロリストという非対称戦争だったからだ。これがパートⅠである。
新しい戦争パートⅡは一段と手強い。相手は姿が見えない。変幻自在。どんどん強力になる性向もあるらしい。累計感染者数は世界で324万7648人、アメリカだけで105万3036人、また死者は世界が23万804人、アメリカが6万1717人（5月1日現在、米ジョンズ・ホプキンズ大調べ）。ちなみに9.11の総死者数は2996人（実行犯を含む）である。
感染拡大に未だ終わりは見えない。しかしこれまでの「戦い」を中間総括し次の５点を強調したい。
第１に隠蔽は絶対に禁じ手ということだ。今回のパンデミック（世界的流行）危機は中国の初動の失敗が大きい。今は、武漢封鎖で感染拡大を制圧したとして、成功物語の宣伝や感染国の支援に余念ないが、失敗はそんなことでは相殺出来ないほど致命的である事実に、習近平国家主席は何時まで頬かむりし続けるつもりだろうか。
第２は世界保健機関（WHO）の中国寄り姿勢と機能不全だ。テドロス事務局長は中国のウイルス対策を称賛したばかりか、アメリカの中国人入国禁止措置に反対し、緊急事態宣言の発出も遅れた。挙句にパンデミック（世界的大流行）を招いてしまったのだ。
03年の重症急性呼吸器症候群（SARS）で北京入りしたWHOチームが、中国当局の感染者の過少報告を糺したのとは大違い。ＷＨＯが政治化しては救える命も救えなくなる。
第３は欧米の油断である。発生源に近いアジアではなく、なぜ遠い欧米で驚くべき感染爆発が起きたのか。東アジアの状況を対岸の火事と見て、手をこまぬいた慢心や危機意識の薄さは拭いようがない。
第4に失敗は成功の元でもあることだ。台湾は院内感染などから多数の死者を出したSARSの、韓国も2015年の中東呼吸器症候群（MERS）の手痛い経験を生かし、感染の拡大抑制に範を示している。
日本はSARS、MERS、09年の新型インフルエンザも死者を世界最低レベルに抑えるなど、これ迄は失敗がないが、それは次の成功を保証するものではない。緩い緊急事態宣言で乗り切れるのか、日本人の底力が問われている。
第5は社会インフラとくに医療、福祉予算を安易に削減してはいけないということだ。イタリアの医療従事者たちの惨状やアメリカのマイノリティたちの感染率の高さが物語るように、そのツケは大きい。
とは言え朝の来ない夜はない。コロナ後の国際社会と日本が取り組むべき課題を、やや中長期的な観点も含めて3点あげたい。
第1にグローバリゼーションの再考である。20世紀初頭のスペイン風邪を言うまでもなく、SARSやMERSと比較にならない感染スピード。グローバル化はコロナの大好物なのだ。何が不要不急か、検討すべきは外出だけでない。私たちの生き方そのものではないか。
第2に多国間協力と国際機関はやっぱり不可欠だ。いくらWHOが問題児でも、トランプ米大統領のように拠出金停止や、まして脱退（ユネスコは脱退した）は解決策ではない。中国の国際機関への覇権を増大させるだけである。
しかし中立機関に戻すためにも、ＷＨＯ改革は喫緊の課題だ。それには欧米はじめ広い多国間協力が必要であり、「人間の安全保障」を掲げ、グローバル・ヘルスを重視する日本こそリーダーシップを取る出番であろう。
改革と並行し、コロナ後のＷＨＯには何よりもまず新型コロナウイルス感染症（COVID-19）の徹底的解明と報告を求めたい。発生場所から感染経路、対策、治療薬など等、この感染症にまつわる疑惑や謎の一切に迫ること。それは次の新顔の出現に備えることでもある。米中の協力は不可欠だ。
第3に環境保護がますます重要だ。SARSも新型コロナウイルスもこうもりが媒介役と言われている。今、ヒトとの境界線を越えて餌を求める動物たちが増えている。動物たちとの「新しい戦争・Ⅲ」が始まったら大変だ。こうもりを森の奥深くへ帰してやろう。
結局のところ、新型コロナウイルスは現代文明にどっぷりつかった私たちの生活に再考を促す警報かもしれない。
筆者はフリーランスジャーナリスト、産経新聞客員論説委員
2001年9月11日、ニューヨークの世界貿易センターがイスラム原理主義過激派アルカーイダのテロ攻撃により倒壊した時、「世界は新しい戦争の時代に入った」と言われた。従来型の国対国でなく、国対テロリストという非対称戦争だったからだ。これがパートⅠである。
新しい戦争パートⅡは一段と手強い。相手は姿が見えない。変幻自在。どんどん強力になる性向もあるらしい。累計感染者数は世界で324万7648人、アメリカだけで105万3036人、また死者は世界が23万804人、アメリカが6万1717人（5月1日現在、米ジョンズ・ホプキンズ大調べ）。ちなみに9.11の総死者数は2996人（実行犯を含む）である。
感染拡大に未だ終わりは見えない。しかしこれまでの「戦い」を中間総括し次の５点を強調したい。
第１に隠蔽は絶対に禁じ手ということだ。今回のパンデミック（世界的流行）危機は中国の初動の失敗が大きい。今は、武漢封鎖で感染拡大を制圧したとして、成功物語の宣伝や感染国の支援に余念ないが、失敗はそんなことでは相殺出来ないほど致命的である事実に、習近平国家主席は何時まで頬かむりし続けるつもりだろうか。
第２は世界保健機関（WHO）の中国寄り姿勢と機能不全だ。テドロス事務局長は中国のウイルス対策を称賛したばかりか、アメリカの中国人入国禁止措置に反対し、緊急事態宣言の発出も遅れた。挙句にパンデミック（世界的大流行）を招いてしまったのだ。
03年の重症急性呼吸器症候群（SARS）で北京入りしたWHOチームが、中国当局の感染者の過少報告を糺したのとは大違い。ＷＨＯが政治化しては救える命も救えなくなる。
第３は欧米の油断である。発生源に近いアジアではなく、なぜ遠い欧米で驚くべき感染爆発が起きたのか。東アジアの状況を対岸の火事と見て、手をこまぬいた慢心や危機意識の薄さは拭いようがない。
第4に失敗は成功の元でもあることだ。台湾は院内感染などから多数の死者を出したSARSの、韓国も2015年の中東呼吸器症候群（MERS）の手痛い経験を生かし、感染の拡大抑制に範を示している。
日本はSARS、MERS、09年の新型インフルエンザも死者を世界最低レベルに抑えるなど、これ迄は失敗がないが、それは次の成功を保証するものではない。緩い緊急事態宣言で乗り切れるのか、日本人の底力が問われている。
第5は社会インフラとくに医療、福祉予算を安易に削減してはいけないということだ。イタリアの医療従事者たちの惨状やアメリカのマイノリティたちの感染率の高さが物語るように、そのツケは大きい。
とは言え朝の来ない夜はない。コロナ後の国際社会と日本が取り組むべき課題を、やや中長期的な観点も含めて3点あげたい。
第1にグローバリゼーションの再考である。20世紀初頭のスペイン風邪を言うまでもなく、SARSやMERSと比較にならない感染スピード。グローバル化はコロナの大好物なのだ。何が不要不急か、検討すべきは外出だけでない。私たちの生き方そのものではないか。
第2に多国間協力と国際機関はやっぱり不可欠だ。いくらWHOが問題児でも、トランプ米大統領のように拠出金停止や、まして脱退（ユネスコは脱退した）は解決策ではない。中国の国際機関への覇権を増大させるだけである。
しかし中立機関に戻すためにも、ＷＨＯ改革は喫緊の課題だ。それには欧米はじめ広い多国間協力が必要であり、「人間の安全保障」を掲げ、グローバル・ヘルスを重視する日本こそリーダーシップを取る出番であろう。
改革と並行し、コロナ後のＷＨＯには何よりもまず新型コロナウイルス感染症（COVID-19）の徹底的解明と報告を求めたい。発生場所から感染経路、対策、治療薬など等、この感染症にまつわる疑惑や謎の一切に迫ること。それは次の新顔の出現に備えることでもある。米中の協力は不可欠だ。
第3に環境保護がますます重要だ。SARSも新型コロナウイルスもこうもりが媒介役と言われている。今、ヒトとの境界線を越えて餌を求める動物たちが増えている。動物たちとの「新しい戦争・Ⅲ」が始まったら大変だ。こうもりを森の奥深くへ帰してやろう。
結局のところ、新型コロナウイルスは現代文明にどっぷりつかった私たちの生活に再考を促す警報かもしれない。
筆者はフリーランスジャーナリスト、産経新聞客員論説委員
一般社団法人 日本英語交流連盟