(Minghui.org) More than 100 international policy experts, politicians, and academics from North America, Europe, and Oceania strongly condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) cover-up and mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic in an open letter.

Titled “The Communist Party’s Rule by Fear Endangers Chinese Citizens—And The World,” the letter was published on April 14, 2020 on the website of Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a national public policy think-tank based in Ottawa. 

Addressed to the Chinese citizens and friends of China at home and abroad, the letter pointed out in the beginning, “The current global crisis has been caused by the regime so many of you have been tolerating or supporting for decades.”

It went on to say, “While the exact source and spread of the virus are not clear yet the question of origin is highly important, for the people of China and for all humankind: only by understanding how this global disaster could emerge can we prevent it from happening again.”

It also said, “The roots of the pandemic are in a cover-up by CCP authorities in Wuhan, Hubei province. Under the influence of the CCP the World Health Organisation first downplayed the pandemic.”

The letter compared the pandemic to the Chernobyl incident 34 years ago, which was described by former Soviet Union Communist Party Secretary Gorbachev as “a big nail that was put on the giant coffin of the Soviet Union.”

The letter reminded the reader, “We should never forget that China’s Chernobyl moment was a self-inflicted wound. The CCP silenced Chinese doctors who wanted to warn other health professionals during the early stage of the outbreak: Dr. Ai Fen can no longer appear in public after accepting a domestic media interview; her colleague Dr. Li Wenliang died while fighting the virus in Wuhan.”

It also mentioned a recent video posted by a student named Zhang Wenbin, who changed from a CCP supporter to “a critical citizen with a conscience.” 

Zhang said in his video, “Since I scaled the Great Firewall, I gradually came to the realization that the Chinese Communist Party has extended its dragon claws into every corner of the world, including collective farming [1950s], the Cultural Revolution [1966-1976], the Great Famine [1958-1961], the One-Child Policy, the Tiananmen massacre [1989], as well as the persecution of the Falun Gong [spiritual movement], and the peoples of Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang… Yet everyone continues to turn a blind eye, singing the Party’s praises. I just can’t bear it.”

In the end, the letter urged all the Chinese people not to accept the CCP’s terrorism, and bravely stand up to it. 

“The global pandemic forces us all to confront an inconvenient truth: by politicizing all aspects of life including people’s health, continued autocratic one-party rule in the People’s Republic of China has endangered everyone. Rather than trusting the CCP’s intentions and accepting establishment academics’ uncritical approval of the party-state’s policies, we should pay greater attention to the voices of what can be termed ‘unofficial’ China. These independent-minded academics, doctors, entrepreneurs, citizen journalists, public interest lawyers and young students no longer accept the CCP’s rule by fear. Neither should you.”

Those who’ve signed the letter include:

Irwin Cotler, chair of the Raoul Centre for Human Rights, Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University, and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Lord Andrew Adonis, House of Lords, United Kingdom

Rt Hon Norman Baker, former Home Affairs minister, UK government

Anna Fotyga, European Parliament

Andrius Kubilius, European Parliament

Jan Lipavský MP, House of Commons, Czech Republic