The sudden outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia has not only tested China's response, but also highlighted foreign attitudes and perceptions towards China.

It is not particularly surprising that American politicians such as the U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross have taken advantage of the situation and exposed the hegemonic nature of the country by being extremely selfish and irresponsible.

In an interview on Jan. 30, Wilbur Ross said that while the emerging coronavirus in China is a “very unfortunate, very malignant disease” whose victims deserve empathy, he also saw the potential for a positive impact on jobs in the U.S. and Mexico.

Soon after, the Commerce Department, which was attempting a face-lift, issued a further statement, saying it was trying to take responsibility for the safety of U.S. companies in China and hinting at what it called Beijing's "poor record" of covering up risks.

Aside from the moral questionability of taking advantage of others' troubles, Ross's argument is also untenable on a purely factual level.

Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, made it clear that if there was a real health and life risk to American businesses, a proliferation of guns and a nationwide measles outbreak were a bigger source of risk than the new coronavirus.

Quite apart from shooting incidents, which have been a long-standing problem of the U.S., there were 1,282 cases of measles reported nationwide from Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2019, 73 percent of which are related to the recent measles outbreak in New York.

To put it another way, of course, for officials like Ross, it is in a sense impossible to reverse China's predominance in global manufacturing in any conventional way and bring U.S. manufacturers back home. Their only hope lies in the new coronavirus.

Pompeo claimed the Communist Party of China (CPC) was a “threat”, which is easier to understand: for politicians such as Pompeo, without the leadership of the CPC, China will be doomed and the U.S. will be able to take advantage of the situation.

Pompeo's comments are not new, and largely follow the line of Steve Bannon, a former campaign adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a speech in 2019, Bannon became noted for articulating his vision of an ideal China that was Hong Kong before its return to China in 1997, where the industrious and courageous Chinese people, under Western rule, were constantly creating value for the U.S.-centric west.

The success of the CPC has led to the destruction of some Westerners' hopes, so the rise of China under the leadership of the CPC is, of course, the greatest threat to American hegemony.

The truth is, no hegemonic order can last for a long time. The likes of Ross, Pompeo and Bannon know this better than anyone else. They are well aware of the limited opportunities and time window available to suppress China's rise.

As a result, anxious feelings dominate their hearts, while unexpected remarks become the external manifestation of their internal emotions, which occasionally go out of control.

The rise of China, an oversized country under the strong leadership of the CPC, is an unstoppable historical process.

While there will be tests along the way, including this new coronavirus outbreak, the ultimate victory must be China's. To borrow a phrase, the only thing to fear is fear itself. As for the American politicians with evil intentions, time will see their defeat, and history will record their ugliness.