Once the threat of COVID-19 is contained, it would be in Beijing’s interest to introspect as to why it is distrusted by the rest of the world
The outbreak of Coronavirus that has stymied economic activity across China and the rest of the world, including neighbouring Southeast Asia, has gradually been brought under control, at least in Wuhan, its epicentre. The viral outbreak, now termed as “COVID-19” by the World Health Organisation (WHO), has disrupted manufacturing supply chains across the world, crippled tourism and trade industries and sharply reduced consumption of oil, gas and coal as economic activity has come to a shuddering halt. Weirdly enough, this may not be a bad thing indeed. However, there are a couple of threads that have emerged due to the spread of this virus. It relates to the way China has tackled COVID-19 back home. This will be worth exploring.
Its initial response was actually praiseworthy. Once the Chinese Central leadership was made aware of the ramifications and the impact of this virus on its population, it acted speedily and in a way that only a nation-State with such a centralised command structure can do. Information spread was controlled, medical workers and the armed forces mobilised in a way that frankly only China, which counts among the world’s largest nations, can do. Back in India, if we were to face such a situation, one can only imagine television anchors going hammer and tongs against the panelists. Political parties, too, would not desist from giving a communal angle to the viral outbreak. The speed at which it constructed hospitals and quarantine centres in the city of Wuhan and central Hubei province is noteworthy.
That said, the second issue is one that the Chinese leadership ought to be concerned about. Almost no nation on the planet trusted the statements/information coming out from China about the epidemic. Nor did anyone believe the statistics put out by it. Such fuss about a viral fever that has a low fatality rate. According to official data, Coronavirus infected less than a hundred thousand people in the four weeks it was around. Xinhua, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China, put these statistics on Twitter. But it likely failed to see the irony of using a social network banned in China. More people have died from the common flu in the US in the past year than have officially died from the COVID-19 virus in China and the rest of the world.
Going by the average toll of 400 deaths per day, in the past month alone, more people must have died on Indian roads. As far as official statistics released by China, the infection and fatality rates are lower than previous major outbreaks, even other flu outbreaks in the past that have emerged such as SARS.
So why this panic and a near war-like emergency in cities across China to contain the outbreak? Is China hiding something? The Chinese authorities claim not to be hiding anything but then, why is everyone talking about the COVID-19 outbreak? People in India and across the world believe that China is hiding something. Is it true?
Videos, purportedly emerging from China, showed how authorities over there are forcibly detaining people and putting them into detention camps. The Chinese authorities were ham-fisted in the way they dealt with Li Wenliang, the doctor who first warned about the possibility of an outbreak and ultimately died of the new coronavirus. Some bloggers, too, have been documenting life in the worst-hit provinces. Supposed presentations by Chinese conglomerates have been leaked into the wild, which claim that the real number of deaths is many multiples of the official numbers, which at the last count stood at around 2,500 and the number of confirmed cases may possibly be in millions.
Here is the thing: All Governments lie — whether it is the Chinese or the Americans and even our own. Lies are propagated to cover up incompetence than to hide malafide intentions. Well, during the Cold War, the Americans and the Soviets lied with malafide intentions. But that’s another story for another day. Politicians and bureaucrats lie more often than not to cover up their incompetence and ineptitude.
The problem with lies, as almost everyone knows, is that the web just gets bigger and bigger. But when matters of public health and safety are involved, at least a degree of truth will be of help even if being economical with the truth is essential to maintain public order. It was, therefore, almost amusing to see how the Chinese Government suddenly sent its Ambassadors on a public relations offensive even as access to information was restricted not only for foreign correspondents but also for its own journalists.
Of course, coming back to the first point, the Chinese Government must be applauded for its initial response to the outbreak, once they realised the seriousness of it all, even if few Governments across the world have the necessary information about it, officially at least. But even with a new public relations outreach, it should be apparent to the Chinese Government that almost nobody, with the exception of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, trusts China. One suspects that in private, even he is skeptical of the Chinese stance.
What does this say about Chinese President Xi Jinping and China, a country that aspires to stand next to the US as a superpower? Forget other Governments, citizens in other countries have lost faith in China, a trend that seems to be accelerating over the past few years. The Communist Party of China (CPC) ought to introspect why this is the case and how the COVID-19 outbreak has made matters worse on the trust front.
There are lessons for other Governments as well, including India, because “trust” is important. Whether one likes the Press or not, engagement with both the local and global media is vital. We have moved ahead from an age of information to that of affirmation. It is important that this changes soon. Otherwise, we run the risk of a complete and total breakdown in “trust” with governance across the world, this contagion having being started by a real-life one.
(The writer is Managing Editor, The Pioneer)
