By Li Haidong

Some political forces intend to impose responsibility for the COVID-19 on China and demand huge compensation since mid-March.

Several days ago, a US law firm in Florida filed a class action against the Chinese side. Then, some members of the US Senate and the House of Representatives promoted relevant resolutions, and recently a British think tank filed a so-called report that pursues a total of 351 billion pounds in claims from China.

These incidents indicate that although international cooperation to deal with the pandemic has become a current consensus, some forces are still playing with laws and politics to achieve the goal of permanently denigrating and discrediting China. There are several issues that deserve special attention.

First, accountability for the source of the virus and the global spread of the pandemic will be a common concern after the pandemic has stabilized or ended. It directly involves the general issues of "state responsibility" and international compensation.

The International Health Regulations, which came into effect in 2007, requires that state parties promptly and effectively inform the World Health Organization (WHO) of public health emergencies in their countries that may constitute international concern. Failure to fulfill this obligation will lead to related national liability issues, and the victim country or affected country canhold it accountable. Therefore, this usually means loss of national credibility and huge compensationfor the country that fails to fulfill this obligation, whose consequences are no less than the responsibility of the losing party in a large-scale war.

In the face of slandering by some forces, China has clearly stated the facts to the international community and sorted out China's response and countermeasures against the pandemic. Anyone who holds an objective and just position will understand that there is no inappropriate behavior specified in the International Health Regulations. The logic of blaming China on the grounds of "law" is untenable, behind which lays the desire to force China to sacrifice national interests and prestige and to create an international atmosphere of lasting derogation against China, in the name of legal investigation. Such behaviors just reflect the reprint of the Cold War mentality.

Second, some people in the West have misunderstood the biggest threat facing the world. They tried to slide blame on China for the pandemic instead of focusing on responding to the pandemic.

During the critical period of cooperation against COVID-19among countries, those people are obsessed with making enemies and stubbornly trying to distort the global anti-pandemic to anti-China. The spread and harmfulness of the COVID-19 have been perceived by most people. The virus cannot be eradicated without cross-regional cooperation. The hostility and confrontation between countries should be replaced by strengthened cooperation with each other in response to large-scale infectious diseases. The anti-China forces under the disguise of pursuing claims are not only creating new disputes between countries, but also interfering with the overall cooperation in the fight against epidemics among countries.

It can be expected that after the pandemic, some forces may drag the accountability claim into an extremely cumbersome situation. China will stick to the basic spirit of international law, uphold the bottom line of law and facts, and properly deal with the politicization of claims by some politicians, believing in the ultimate just outcome.

Third, some westerners have tried to leverage accountability claims as an important link that affects the evolution of the world order after the pandemic.

As Henry Kissinger said in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, the post-pandemic world will be different from the present one. The subversive effect of the COVID-19 on globalization and the unusually heavy impact on world powers will most likely contribute to a fundamental change in the pattern of international relations.

The politicized claimants have stigmatized China's political system and governance system on the grounds of blocking information and covering up the pandemic, and made a denigration of China's global anti-pandemic contribution without any bottom line. All these served the attempts of some individual countries to maintain the old pattern of international order and power relations after the pandemic. The inefficient performance of some countries in responding to the pandemic and the decline of the governance system and capabilities exposed will inevitably promote a new understanding of the world.

In the US, the accountability claim forces are emerging. Rather than claiming economic compensation, they are trying to construct "principles of legitimacy" for the world order after the pandemic. What they want most is to force China to finally accept a world order similar to the "Treaty of Versailles" peace, which is absolutely impossible for present world.,

In view of the extensive and significant interests involved in the issue of claims for accountability that some political forces have hyped, China wishes to say to them that，

First, many issues including the origin of the COVID-19 are still controversial. Some western claimants have no scientific basis for unwarranted accusations against China. We need to carry out more extensive international cooperation, continue to carry out relevant scientific research and provide scientific justice rather than politicize the COVID-19.

Second, the issue of accountability claims and compensation must be strictly limited to the scope of the law. Experts in the relevant legal field should proceed as early as possible to deal with this issue, and crackdown on the attempts of some forces to slide blame on China by distorting the law.

Third, some western claimants have vigorously expanded their "China threat theory," ignoring the realities and mainstream views in China. Chinese experts and scholars, media, and people will continue to extensively strengthen foreign exchanges and tell Chinese stories well, striving to show the world the truth about China.

(The author is a professor of the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University)