Ex-PM Theresa May Blames Nationalism for Coronavirus Crisis, Praises China Backing WHO Instead

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 11: Prime Minister Theresa May attends the London Conference
Jack Hill - WPA Pool/Getty
Kurt Zindulka

The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May blamed the forces of nationalism and populism for the scale of the Chinese coronavirus crisis, saying that countries should instead coalesce around “great multilateral institutions” such as the World Health Organization (WHO).

In an article entitled “Nationalism Is No Ally in This Battle Without Borders” — the ex-prime minister who failed to deliver Brexit said that the pandemic hit the world at a time in which a “US president was elected on a mandate of America First”.

“Against a backdrop of populist politics in many countries, the search for political solutions to economic and social challenges has become a competition of absolutes. A polarised politics has taken hold. It views the world through a prism of winners and losers and sees compromise and co-operation as signs of weakness,” the ex-prime minister wrote in The Times.

“Lost is the idea that countries do better by working together to solve common problems, even if doing so sometimes means an apparent sacrifice of short-term benefit for the greater good,” she added.

Mrs May chose instead to hail the “great multilateral institutions” of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), despite the fact that the WHO promoted Chinese communist propaganda from the outset of the coronavirus outbreak.

“There remains no collective international view as to what works best in dealing with the virus — nor does there seem to have been any attempt to form one. This risks exacerbating the shift towards nationalism and absolutism which is emasculating the institutions that served us well over decades,” May lamented.

The former prime minister did admit that the Wuhan virus originally came from China as well as recognising that the United States is right to question the Chinese government’s role in the pandemic.  However, she said that the United Kingdom should not let the “special relationship” it has with the U.S. come in the way of Britain forging “diplomatic and trading relationships” with countries like the communist regime in Beijing.

“The question should not be ‘whose side are you on’ but how can we work together to engage with China to ensure that it adopts higher standards on intellectual property, carbon emissions, human rights and regional security,” Mrs May said.

In April, the former Chief of Staff to Theresa May, Nick Timothy, said that the Conservative-led governments of David Cameron and Mrs May had pursued a policy referred to as “Operation Kowtow” when it came to the Chinese Communist Party. Despite evidence of the communist regime stealing British military and commercial secrets, the UK government struck a “cynical bargain” in favour of economic gains, according to Timothy.

Mr Timothy noted that the actions of the Chinese communists during the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, such as silencing doctors and censoring information about the virus, demonstrate that it is “surely now obvious that China is… a strategic rival to the West”.

Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka

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