My Take | Covid exposes fatal flaws in Chinese and US governing systems
- Between the extremes of Chinese authoritarian control and American reckless ‘freedom’, most people likely prefer something in the middle
China and the United States love to boast about their own greatness and denigrate the other. The global Covid-19 pandemic has offered ample opportunities for both countries to exercise their respective cultural megalomania.
In truth, though, the global health crisis has exposed deep and fatal flaws in Chinese techno-authoritarianism and the American brand of democracy. Far from admiring, many polls show more people around the world are finding neither political system particularly attractive.
China’s zero-Covid success in the past two years is proving to be less than meets the eye. Its relentless and cruel application in Shanghai, the country’s richest city, is showing the world the ugly side of locking down millions. It is also looking increasingly pointless. Official Shanghai health statistics have recorded more than 200,000 Omicron infection cases since the start of March, with just nine patients in serious condition and not a single death, excluding deaths at elderly hospital units and care homes. The success of the city’s health measures or the low-lethality of the Omicron variant? I think we know the answer.
However ruthless China may be, though, it has saved the lives of more Chinese citizens. Compare Chinese data with the US. According to the Bloomberg database, the US has had 80,625,120 confirmed cases and almost a million confirmed deaths; China has had 562,803 cases and fewer than 5,000 confirmed deaths.