Opinion | Coronavirus: amid the shrill, polarised criticism of China’s response, give credit where it’s due or risk missing important lessons

A lack of nuance in critiquing China’s response is neither accurate nor helpful, and any serious discussion can only proceed by acknowledging Beijing’s successes as well as failures. As Europe and the US struggle with the pandemic, useful lessons may be lost

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Ballet dancer Ashlee Montague wears a gas mask as she dances in Times Square, New York, on March 18. About two-thirds of coronavirus cases are occurring outside China now. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:00am, 24 Mar 2020Updated: 1:53am, 24 Mar 2020

As the fallout from the Covid-19 outbreak in China reverberates around the world, at the core of heated debates lies the question over Beijing’s political response to the crisis.

Some have lauded the government for its efficiency and swiftness while others point out that the lack of accountability among local officials and a political culture that eschews transparency are to blame for the outbreak.

Distinctly alarming, perhaps, is the deep polarisation – along partisan and political lines – in the assessments of China’s record, and the eagerness to score political points through attacking or glorifying it.

Yet, one need not be an ideological critic of the Chinese regime to be significantly concerned with its early crisis management. When presented with evidence of a potential outbreak by individual doctors – whose complaints were drowned out by inertia and established structures – the lacklustre responses of bureaucrats clearly showed they had not learned the lessons of the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak.

Instead, they initially painted doctors such as Li Wenliang as pariahs and outliers, and clamped down on civilian discourse. Had the government and the world been alerted sooner, swifter and less-interventionist measures could easily have been taken.

Even if, as some say, Li lacked expertise in the subject, the correct strategy was to contact experts to investigate, rather than play down, the situation through hollow attempts at public mollification.

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