Beijing, at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, hid the origins, nature, and transmissibility of the virus. Then it lied about its supposedly brilliant control of the epidemic. Victor Davis Hanson in NRO wonders if America will now recalibrate its relationship with China to ensure that, when the next pandemic hits, America will not be jeopardized by the duplicity of the Chinese government.

Tough Questions Need Answers

• Does the U.S. really need almost 15,000 people flying in from China each day?
• At a time when American students owe $1.5 trillion in student loans, is it smart to have some 360,000 Chinese students enrolled in U.S. colleges?
• Is it safe to fund hundreds of labs on university campuses that conduct joint research with Chinese academics?
• Does the United States really wish to curtail fracking, which has made it the largest producer of natural gas in the world and ensured that a quarantined America has plenty of fuel?
• Is it prudent to release precious irrigation water out to the Pacific Ocean when California is the richest and most diverse producer of food in America?

Will America find a scapegoat and play the blame game? Or, instead, will America, with the help of a bipartisan commission, decide how best to (1) return key industries to the U.S., (2) prepare for the next epidemic, and (3) pay down the enormous debt we have incurred to defeat COVID-19?

“In other words, the choice is ours whether America awakens as a roaring giant or a crying baby.”