Claim China’s Covid-19 ‘success’ has ‘shattered the American myth’ stirs online debate
- Shanghai-based academic Zhang Weiwei says China’s much lower death rate shows the superiority of the Chinese governance model
- Zhang also said the city was ‘days away from success’ in containing the outbreak – but critics accused him of touting one-sided propaganda
In an article posted on Fudan University’s China Institute website last week, Zhang Weiwei said the outbreak, and high death rates in the United States, marked the end of the popular belief it had a superior governance model and criticised those who held that view as “spiritually American”.
“Chinese people, including the people of Shanghai, will never allow the ‘spiritually American’ to dominate our pandemic controls nor will they allow the model of a ‘defeated nation’ to replace our victorious governance model that took down Covid-19,” Zhang, the institute’s director, wrote.
“Of course, our model shall evolve with time but even at where we are now, it still far exceeds the American one. The American myth is shattered among the majority of Chinese, especially among the young people,” he added.
He has regularly featured in state media and argued that analyses of China should move beyond debates about “democracy or authoritarianism” and focus instead on “good or bad governance ”.
He has also brought together debates conducted in the official, academic, public and international spheres.