Niall Ferguson | When will China answer for what came out of Wuhan?

Harvard and Stanford historian Niall Ferguson asks to tough questions of China for their part in failing to contain COVID-19. The CCP has much to answer for.

Niall:

[johncalder]

The UK don’t want to ask CCP any awkward questions. Why? It would seem we are at the mercy of the Chinese money and surprise surprise they haven’t got the UK’s best interest as a priority.

[valdius]

Let's be honest with each other right now...
They own most of Australia, North America, EU...
This is how we pay for our convenience. We knew, or should have known, exactly what is going on in there. We have secret services for that, so stop blaming WHO. These organisations are corrupt for many years and we should be ashamed for saying that this is news to us.
We trusted the system that took over 40m lives to get to power.
We play surprised now. Our shame should motivate us.

I want to end that rant with the question: what conveniences are we willing to sacrifice to be free?

[vanessa]

"Courageously and insightly" is perfect description of Niall Ferguson speaking out on this topic. So happy someone is broaching that topic.

[tekannon]

Dear Mr Anderson and Mr Furguson, I live in Europe and next to us in Lombardi, Italy and in Madrid, Spain there are large Chinese populations. The virus outbreak occurred apparently when Chinese nationals came back from celebrating the Chinese New Year and that’s why the concentration of the epidemic was so enormous in those regions. I have one question that I think needs being asked: What is going to be important in six months’ time? Is it wise to keep digging at China for answers when we all know there never will be any that resemble the truth? Isn’t this an excellent time for Australia to play poker face and not show their cards? Isn’t it time for Australia to realize that they took the bait for being hugely over-dependent on the middle kingdom and now finds itself with its back to the wall? Australia has let itself become too heavily financially dependent on selling their raw materials to China and now is a perfect time to realize that the XI Dynasty is only going to tighten the screws, but they have made one big mistake: they have shown their cards. Now you know how these people operate. What a perfect time to re-calibrate your trade department procédures and discreetly multiply your trade contacts across the globe until not one country can hold your hand in the fire. I suggest being very diplomatic and poker-faced with China and in a way immitate their way of doing diplomacy until the virus has run its course. Don’t call them out, like the irresponsible President Trump has done and say the bug came from a lab experiment gone wrong. He's cutting off his own life support system. He's playing the clown, when we need a real wise bloke up there ahead of the curve. The Chinese are a formidable opponent and should not be underestimated. But the way to success in negotiations with them is by being extremely diplomatic. Don’t say embarrassing things to a culture where saving face is like having lots of money is to us in our our bent up logic in our capitalistic societies. It’s best to let this thing play out, get our economies growing again and for Australian trade to have expanded where if China or any country tries to pressure you on any point, cutting off ties will not bring down the whole Australian economy. Trade can be used as a weapon, just like an epidemic. What is going to be important in six months’ time should be where we focus our energy. It's an opinion. I am an inventor and an artist so I think in 'solution' mode.

[lilytoh]

He took old flight schedules before there were cancelled. And those flights were cancelled at noon on twenty third of February and even though it was pointed out to him he refused to withdraw his false views

[farqbricks]

Thanks John 👍, I've recently found your interviews. Enjoying them and learning alot.

[toby]

A lot of governments are going to have a lot to answer for. The handling of this disaster has been a dismal failure in too many cases.

[yourrealdad]

But wait! I thought the Lab origin theories were speculation & conspiracy!

[Mark_Dyer]

JOHN: "It leaps from human to human"! You mean like virtually all other pathogens which affect human beings? This entire line of questioning lets our own 'Western' Governments off the hook, as regards their incompetence. The issue is the 'relative lethality' of this virus; and whether that relativity justifies all of the measures taken throughout the 'Western' world. China is responsible for the mismanagement of China: OUR Governments are responsible for the mismanagement of our societies. And those same Governments are just as wily as the Chinese Communist Party when it comes to covering up the evidence of their incompetence: except the stratagem for ours will be for our Countries to play "Pretend Crisis" for many more weeks, to cover up the unnecessary measures which have been taken.

[coreycox]

Asking questions that vaguely imply that there may have been improprieties is not evidence of them. When it is a case of "case not closed, " it may be better to start without an opinion one way or another and rely only on facts.

[duncanmcewan]

John Anderson is a solid intellectual. I am grateful his wisdom and presence was not lost to the Australian public after he left parliament.

[damianpritchett]

It's all very well to blame China but the US has also played a part in this pandemic and they too themselves have questions that need to be answered.

[piglex]

What a load of waffle.Is this guy seriously expecting honesty from the Chinese?At which point would he agree that the information from them is genuine?

[jukesr]

I'm going to try and move to Australia.. the UK is fucked and the Australians seem to have their heads screwed on...

[alexflannders]

Loved the reference to Three Body Problem trilogy. A magnificent trilogy.

[pkwong]

Why have you peoplenot mentioned anything about Fort Detrick and, trump's bungling?

[nimoadder]

John, don't prop up the scam. Niall works for Gates.

[lilytoh]

Niall Fergusson is not telling the truth

[jamesblackmore]

So if this happened in the mid west of America, America would quarantine the area. stop all movement, immediately stop travel just like they did in 1917 when the Spanish flu only killed 50 to 100 people (Do you see what i did there?).

[GrainFarming]

What is it about the word 'communist' in CCP that people don't understand?