ace Relations Commissioner Meng Foon has rebuked a West Coast Regional Council chairman who publicly referred to Covid-19 as “this Chinese virus”.
Allan Birchfield was on Friday quoted in the Greymouth Star saying "I'm taking a bit of a different attitude to this Chinese virus. It's going to be with us for a long time...We can't afford to keep doing this."
Birchfield stood by his comments when contacted on Saturday and said anyone who believes it to be racist needs to stop “being so bloody precious”. "It's not racist at all, we all know where it started."
The Star published an article on Friday reporting on a meeting held between the West Coast’s three mayors, involving the regional council, two iwi representatives, and Civil Defence on Wednesday.
The meeting involved discussion about the possibility of sealing off the West Coast if Covid-19 reappeared in the South Island. Birchfield, was quoted by the Star as saying he was concerned about restricting access.
Race relations commissioner Meng Foon said while Covid-19 did start in China it was a human disease and to vilify Chinese people was “not on”.
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“Calling it a Chinese disease is hurtful, it is racist, and we’re just asking people to continue to exercise care in their vocabulary.”
Foon said when Covid-19 first came to New Zealand Asians were targeted with racist comments and abuse.
He added it was “very disappointing” to hear someone in a leadership role making the remarks.
United States President Donald Trump earlier defended using the term, telling reporters at the White House he did not consider it a racist remark.
He indicated his terminology was a pushback to Chinese officials who had been suggesting the US military might have introduced the virus to Wuhan, the Chinese city where it was first reported in late 2019.
"China had tried to say at one point, maybe they stopped now, that it was caused by American soldiers," Trump said. "That can't happen. It's not going to happen, not as long as I'm president. It comes from China."
Following lockdown there were reports of racism towards some members of the Asian community who reported that they had take their children out of school due to bullying, while others became targets of a racist email that said Asians were spreading viruses.
Buller mayor Jamie Cleine disagreed with Birchfield's comments.
"I can see how some people would take offence at it. I just think it's an unfortunate choice of words.”
Greymouth mayor Tania Gibson said she read about the comments in the paper.
“I don’t agree with them. He could’ve had a better choice of words. It has been quite controversial calling it that, it’s not the nicest thing to say or the right thing to say.”
