But what if China's approach isn't based on what the west thinks but rather what other non-aligned countries think?
Coronavirus has inflicted suffering on the developing world. And the developing world is largely non aligned. China has a duty, responsibility and incentive to make its case clear to these countries. Many countries in the developing world overtly and covertly support China ( its rise against the west). Whether they stand to gain directly from China or not, many see China as the "other guy" in the field. The west anymore can't enjoy the freedoms it once exercised over these poor countries. It can't issue diktats with authority anymore.
China has a responsibility since it reported the cases first and since the Wuhan lab is indeed located in the city that first reported it.
Isn't all that is what China had been doin all along since it first detected the virus at Dec 2019?
China had been as transparent as can be to the world. It had been showing an example of responsibility. Its had shared the virus genome sequence. It had sent warnings to other CDCs. It had offered and sent doctors and medical aid to virus-afflicted countries. It had donated and shipped out more vaccines than any other country. It had allowed investigators to come to Wuhan including the WIV. China had done everything that could have been asked.
What I'm taking about is what China has to do in the very near future. The West is setting up to frame China for 'creating and unleashing' Covid-19 on the world. This Wuhan lab theory is no longer a tinhat conspiracy. It's been echoed by once-respectable scientists, doctors, and journalists in the West. Something is coming.
What propaganda war the West had achieved thus far had worked marvelously. Sinophobia is sky high as ever. Many people in the developing and non-aligned world won't readily accept Chinese vaccines unless convinced or forced to by their governments. You have quarters of societies around the world who actually believe that China created, unleashed, and profited from Covid-19. 'Wuhan virus' is still being mentioned in every corner of the globe. Trust me, I'm sitting inside one of those 'unaligned' countries. People like me who are more pro-China are a minority. The trend today is that praising or trusting China is politically frowned upon.
The consequences of Western framing China for Covid-19 is real. There won't be war of course, China is too powerful to be attacked. What could happen is very much similar to what they did to Russia after the Ukrainian Euromaidan. Isolation, sanctions, and subject to provocations. Things are looking like its going in that direction. The West is playing China to its game. So its now no longer the time for China to cooperate with the West the same way that it always has. It needs to see what is coming, and make a stand for itself. Having just the Chinese media and the Foreign Office refute Western slander is not gonna be enough.