"With the world facing the biggest public health crisis of the twenty-first century, what the UK desperately needs are compassionate communities that look after one another, regardless of people's race and background.
Dr George Lee, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Westminster North recently filed a complaint to the BBC requesting that the news channel stopped using images of Chinese people as the backdrop whenever they reported on the Coronavirus. This was adding to the fear and prejudice shown against the British Chinese community and fuelling hatred and racial incidents. Below was the reply received from the BBC dated 10 March 2020: "Dear Dr Lee
Chinese Liberal Democrats are pleased that there will be a motion to be debated at Spring Conference on Hong Kong. Over the last 2 years we had supported Emergency motions on Hong Kong, competing unsuccessfully for votes in ballots where there were many other worthy causes. However, this year a motion on Hong Kong is firmly on the Agenda, set down for debate on Saturday 14 March at 9.30am.
10 years ago, I had the honour of sitting beside Paddy Ashdown during a dinner function. When I asked him what liberal democracy was, he answered in 3 words 'Liberty, Fairness, Tolerance'. In the weeks leading to this evening, I asked several people - is Liberal Democracy as understood and practised today fit to meet the challenges of the 21st Century?
Of late the news worldwide has been dominated by the spread of the "Wuhan" coronavirus. We wish to express our concern for all those who have been infected or at risk and note that the repercussions of the coronavirus have been far reaching. These range from the lock down and quarantine of the whole Chinese nation, to cancellation of flights to and from China, to the plunging of Chinese as well as other stocks affected by the epidemic.
On 21 January 2020, ITV's Good Morning Britain aired a programme where co-presenter Piers Morgan mimicked and mocked Chinese speakers in a Chinese advertisement. This attracted more than 300 complaints to Ofcom within the first 24 hours.