The White House
The President
Washington, DC

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Dear Mr. President,

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The undersigned Chinese American organizations respectfully call on you and members of your Administration to cease using expressions like “China virus,” “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus,” when referring to the novel coronavirus. Your continued use of such terms serves only to stoke xenophobia and racism, stigmatize Chinese and Asian Americans, and even, in some cases, put our lives in danger. This cannot and must not continue.

 

Mr. President, this pandemic clearly demonstrates that we are living in an interconnected world. Beating this pandemic thus calls for historic and unprecedented international cooperation. No government or public official, whether in Beijing or Washington DC, should pitch conspiracy theories, play the blame game or use the opportunity to score political points. Doing so is petty and ultimately irresponsible in this time of crisis. The United States should rise to the occasion, as we have always done in the past, and lead the world in addressing the crisis rather than sink into an abyss of rancor and hostility that ultimately benefits no one. 

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At a recent press conference, you said “We must sacrifice together because we are all in this together, and we will come through together.” We could not agree more. One way to start would be for you to take your own advice and refrain from using geographic and ethnic descriptors to refer to a virus that, whatever its origin, is now ravaging 177 countries and territories around the world.

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Let us work together, Mr. President, to defeat this pandemic.

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Yours sincerely,

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United Chinese Americans (UCA)