Calling coronavirus ‘Wuhan virus’ isn’t racist, but China wants you to think it is

A firestorm erupted over the weekend in Western media and politics over how to deal with China’s role in the outbreak of the new coronavirus, COVID-19. Many have taken to referring to the virus as the “Wuhan virus,” noting the commonly used term and the suspected place of the origin’s outbreak. But now, high-profile members of the media have come to decide that this label is a blatantly racist term.

Much of the hysteria began when Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, announced that he is placing himself in a quarantine over fears that he made contact “with a person who has since been hospitalized with the Wuhan Virus.”

The response from the Left was swift and clear.

“FYI: Calling #COVID19 the ‘Wuhan Virus’ is racist,” David Gura of NBC and MSNBC wrote on Twitter.

“Just astoundingly gross to call it the Wuhan Virus,” added MSNBC host Chris Hayes.

The hot takes from the Left continued to stream in:

The idea that calling it the Wuhan virus is racist or irregular couldn’t be further from the truth, and historical precedent proves it. In fact, the idea that the “Wuhan virus” label is racist appears to have sprung up in China’s state media and its propaganda apparatus. Beijing authorities are attempting to silence their critics, who have rightly condemned the Chinese government for its incompetence in facilitating the spread of an emerging global pandemic.

The idea that it’s “racist” to document this newest epidemic as the Wuhan virus or any name referring to its origin in China is a tactical propaganda play being made by Chinese authorities and China’s state media. Over the past months, both entities have made a concerted campaign of marking all critiques of China’s handling of the virus and the fact that it originated in Wuhan, China, as “racist” acts.

Over the weekend, Chinese officials castigated Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for referring to the coronavirus as the “Wuhan virus.” China’s Foreign Ministry described his comments as “highly irresponsible” and contributing to anti-China sentiment.

In late February, Beijing authorities expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters from China after the publication’s opinion page published a column headlined “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia.”

On Feb. 24, the state-controlled China Daily proclaimed that identifying the latest coronavirus as the Wuhan virus or other terms referring to its Chinese origin is “racist, discriminatory, and distasteful.”

On Feb. 16, the state-controlled Global Times published a piece declaring that critiques of China’s negligence concerning the Wuhan virus, such as the labeling of China as a “disease incubator,” is a clear sign of “xenophobia” and “racism” against China.

In early February, Communist Party authorities expressed outrage at a Der Spiegel article that described the coronavirus as “Made in China.” Beijing called the news report “racist” and a clear example of “discrimination and xenophobia.”

It has been a common practice to refer to previous global epidemics by their place of origin. The Ebola virus, or just Ebola, was named as such because it originated in villages near the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Zika virus, or just Zika, has a namesake borrowed from the Zika forest of Uganda, where the virus originated. Lyme disease got its name for being diagnosed for the first time in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

The American Council on Science and Health set the record straight on Monday, commenting in an article on its website:

It’s not only the West that refers to the Wuhan virus by its origin city. In fact, media outlets in nations such as Singapore, where the majority of the population is ethnically Chinese, has no issue reporting on it as the Wuhan virus.

Feel free to continue calling it the Wuhan virus, not only because it meets historical precedent, but also to make sure we’re not letting Beijing off the hook. When media and political figures declare that Beijing is right that the Wuhan virus label is “racist,” it silences critics of China’s authoritarian regime and its gross negligence in handling the coronavirus outbreak.

Stick it to China. Call it the “Wuhan virus,” now and forever.

Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) is an investigative journalist and foreign policy analyst based in D.C.