No, because there are a lot of people of Chinese descent in the US and they have historically been targeted and oppressed by the government and the public. If South Africans in the US started getting attacked (I've met two or three over the years) then we would all want to stop using that phrase as well.

Maybe if the US didn't have a very large number of people who are willing to harass people of visibly different races we wouldn't have to have these discussions and worry so much about our language. But we do, and we have a track record of specific races being attacked when nations that have a majority of that race become embroiled in international issues.

I don't have a position on what to call it myself, but I don't see any reason why someone would be insistent on finding some way to call it "Chinese" unless they were attempting to cast blame in a way that "Brazilian variant," "British variant," etc. do not. If most authorities are not already calling it the "Chinese variant," I don't see why you'd call it that. If they are, then obviously you can call it that.

In that context "the original Chinese variant" certainly makes sense.

>Can we call it the chinese variant then?

Ok sure. What did you win? Have you now advanced science and solved all unknown problems in virology? Was the progress of mankind so impeded by the inability to call COVID-19 the Chinese variant? Seriously ask yourself why you are so hung up on being able to call it the China virus. Are doctors around the world completely unable to sequence this virus because they can’t say the word “China virus”, or does it just make you feel better to be able to prescribe blame to a group of people?

I think we can agree there’s open mystery about the origin of the virus without getting caught up in culture war trite. British people aren’t being murdered because of some loose connection to a virus, the very least you could do is show some tact and try not to insert your bias at every opportunity.

The “power” you are exerting is the one killing innocent American citizens. The CCP doesn’t give a flying fuck that you are calling it China virus. That you would put American lives at risk for some superficial insult at the CCP says you care more about your perceived superiority than actually solving problems pertaining to the virus.

Again it is Americans who are dying, not the Chinese.

I can't imagine a situation in which someone dies because I used the term China virus.

Also the CCP definitely cares. Negative PR for a country which is a major exporter is a bad thing for the country.

>I can't imagine a situation in which someone dies because I used the term China virus.

So the huge growth in asian hate crimes year over year is completely unrelated to this misguided effort to somehow blame China for COVID?

>Also the CCP definitely cares.

The CCP cares so much that they never once made a statement to Trump to stop calling it the china virus. Again it's not the Chinese who said stop calling it the China virus, it was Americans who were correctly fearful of being attacked for being Asian.

>Negative PR for a country which is a major exporter is a bad thing for the country.

This is the most laughable comment. The country that had negative PR for decades about children working in sweatshops and factory workers killing themselves is suddenly going to turn heel about the China virus when it's worked up till now. I remember all that "negative PR" being so successful when it came to Hong Kong.

If negative PR actually mattered, American imperialism wouldn't be so successful. CIA-backed coups all over the world never hurt America's economic position.

You can call it the China virus if you want. You can't be cited or sued for doing so. But most people prefer to avoid terms that can reasonably be linked to harassment and violence against minorities.

Your argument also assumes that there is some need to inform people of the origin of COVID-19. There is not. We all know it originated in China and most people now even know the name of China's 9th largest city.