2021年8月9日，中国人民大学重阳金融研究院（人大重阳）联合太和智库和海国图智研究院联合举行的《“美国第一”？！美国抗疫真相》报告发布暨研讨会成功举办，会上发布了《“美国第一”？！美国抗疫真相》研究报告。英国剑桥大学前高级研究员、中国人民大学重阳金融研究院外籍高级研究员马丁·雅克在会上发言。以下为发言实录：

如果新冠肺炎疫情在2012年或2010年爆发，那么疫情的故事就会有所不同。但疫情并没有在那时出现。新冠肺炎疫情是在2020年开始爆发的，正如我们都知道的那样，那时的中美关系已经严重恶化。因此，从一开始，美国就利用疫情，“不遗余力”地对中国展开攻击。

从一开始，特朗普总统就决定将新冠病毒作为攻击中国的关键。从那时起，这种情况从未改变。即使在2020年3月和4月西方国家也发现新冠感染病例，美国和欧洲同时也深陷抗击疫情的困境时，他们也从未停止反华行动。当然在新冠疫情初期，中国处于劣势。那时中国正在努力研究新冠病毒的构成、抗疫政策、以及治疗方针等问题。也是在那个时候，西方国家开始了对中国的无端指责，比如，中国政府隐瞒疫情的发生、瞒报确诊和死亡病例以及拖延报道等等。但是这种反华言论并没有随着疫情蔓延到西方而减少或停止。相反，在许多方面，（西方政府和媒体）向公众掩盖了中国战胜疫情的成功。为何要掩盖中国的抗疫成功？

之前，美国认为自己在对外宣传上占有优势。而现在，正如俗话所说，是靴子穿在另一只脚上——恰恰相反。美国和西方处于守势，他们的表现非常糟糕。就新冠病毒而言，美国和西方政府面临的风险非常大。新冠疫情可能是自二战以来世界各国面临的最严峻的治理考验。在这个考验面前，美国和西方惨败，而中国政府则取得了非凡的成功。

所以，西方抹黑中国的运动一开始是因为确信中国已经搞砸了，但很快就变成了如我所说的通过污名化中国的国际声誉，试图转移公众对西方国家应对疫情无能的注意力。因此，西方的反华行动才刚刚开始，例如尽管中国已为全球抗疫做出巨大贡献，却仍有很多西方国家叫嚣国际团队应通过病毒溯源向中国追责。但事实却是，截止目前中国新冠确诊死亡病例4636人，而美国现已高达61.6万人。

通过对比中美政府在疫情期间的表现，美国的抗疫表现完全无法与中国相提并论，因为美国的抗疫措施极为糟糕。拜登大力鼓吹“实验室泄漏论”，并给美国情报机构90天时间进行调查。极其荒谬的是在近期彭博社公布的“防疫韧性国家排行榜”中，美国居然赫然其上，位列榜首。这次排名完全不必当真，这也是我见过的最荒谬的排行榜。因为即使在今天中国刚出现新一波疫情的情况下，美国仍以数十万感染病例的现状排在世界前列。相比于中国100人左右的感染数据，美国居然有10万多名民众感染新冠病毒。中美的抗疫能力根本就是天差地别，把他们归为一类进行比较简直太荒谬了。

但我担心这种情况会持续下去，因为从新冠疫情一开始，地缘政治就篡夺了科学。大家可以在特朗普的舆论战和处理美国疫情的方式中看到这一点。真相被抛弃，转而却支持政治论战。

这种情况会改变吗？我觉得不会。代价太大了，美国绝不能容忍自己的声誉受到损害。过去不能，将来更不能。美国不遗余力地转移人们对现实情况的注意力。拜登总统在某些方面没有特朗普那么糟糕。特朗普用“功夫流感”、“武汉病毒”和“中国病毒”这样的措辞发表种族主义言论，他的所作所为对美国的公众舆论造成了极大损害。

拜登虽然没有继续特朗普的做法，但却制造了“实验室泄露论”等无端的指责。所以我不觉得情况会有所好转。新冠肺炎疫情被美国赋予了“冷战”论调、“冷战”语言和“冷战”攻击的政治色彩，而这种情况将会持续下去。

谢谢大家。

以下为英文版

You know, perhaps if Covid-19 had happened in 2012 or 2010, the story of Covid would have been a bit different. But it didn’t. Covid-19 broke essentially in 2020. By then, relations between China and the United States has, as we all know so well, deteriorated greatly. So, right from the outset, Covid-19 was submerged in the growing assault by the United States on China.

Right from the outset, President Trump was determined to use Covid as pivotal in his assault on China. From then on, this situation never changed. Even when Covid finally arrived in the West in March and April onwards, with the United States suffering hugely as did Europe, for example. This campaign against China never stopped. Of course, initially, China was on the back foot. It was trying to find out what it was, how to deal with it, what was the best measures and so on. And it was blamed in that period for secrecy, for cover-up, for delay, and so on. But even when the pandemic arrived in the West, this anti-China rhetoric did not cease, was not lessened. On the contrary, in some ways, in many ways in fact, it was hidden, why was it hidden?

Well now, previously the United States has thought it got a propaganda advantage. Now, of course, the boot was on the other foot, as we say in English. And the United States and the West were on the defensive and were doing very badly. And of course the stakes were now very high as regard to the Covid-19. Because Covid-19 was probably the greatest test of governance the world has seen since the Second World War. The United States and the West failed miserably. China, on the contrary, has been extraordinarily successful.

So, what became, you know, what was an attack on China when they thought they got a bullseye, became what I would describe as a strategy of distraction and deflection to try and tarnish China’s reputation and name in the world as much as possible, and distract from the poor performance of the West. So, the campaign against China has just rolled on. I mean there was the call for the international team to investigate China’s responsibility in terms of the origins of the pandemic and so on. Even though it causes the contribution globally to the pandemic, the flu has been a huge increase on the part of the West in the case of China. I mean the fact is, to this day, China has only lost 4636 people. The United States todaVDy, (has lost) 616 thousand people.

I mean you know in terms of comparison, they are obviously, you know, incomparable because China has performed, I would say magnificently, and the United States has performed abysmally. The campaign has rolled on, you know, I mean now you get Biden returning to the theme of the lab leak and giving his security agencies 90 days to come up with. You know, what should be done about this. And the latest ridiculous/ absurd example is Bloomberg reporting on a ranking — a Covid Resilience Ranking— and the United States becomes NO.1. I mean these things can’t be taken seriously. This is the most absurd proposal I think I’ve seen. The fact to the matter is that even now today, the United States is more or less on the top of the world over a hundred-thousand cases, compare that with China which has now, a new outbreak. The total number of infections today is now a bit over 100, compare that with the situation of 100,000 in the United States. I mean this is a joke and jeeze ridiculous to even put them in the same category in relationship to the competence of their handling of the epidemic.

But I fear this is going to continue, you know, because what we have seen from the outset in relationship to Covid-19 is that geopolitics has usurped science? This has been the case not only in the propaganda war but in the very way in which Trump handled the epidemic in the United States. A truth has been abandoned in favor of political polemic.

Will that change? No. I think no. The stakes are too high. The United States cannot afford its view to allow its reputation to be damaged, as it has been and will be, but it tries valiantly to distract people from the reality of the situation. Biden has not been in some ways as bad as Trump. I mean I’m thinking here particularly that the racist language, you know, the talk of the “Kung Flu”, “Wuhan Virus”, and “China Virus” and so on, all that kind of stuff that Trump went in for which were very damaging to American public opinion.

Biden has not continued that, but in every other sense, he has, actually, in terms of the lab leak, and so on. So, I don’t expect things really to change. Covid-19 is mired in a sort of “Cold War” rhetoric, “Cold War” language, and “Cold War” assault by the United States and this is going to continue.

Thank you very much.