Couldn't stop myself from commenting on this news item. True, despite early warnings, any western democratically elected governments failed to act and take preventive measures, which could have stopped this pandemic from spreading. At the same time, some governments like Singapore (I guess, democratically elected government) handled situation pretty well.
I think, best aspect (if any silver lining) of this crisis is that it exposes many so called democratically elected leaderships. In particular, it exposes our Dumb Trump's leadership among some other leaderships in Western Europe.
Though, we can't say for sure, but there is good chance that, this crisis wouldn't have become such a large scale epidemic or pandemic, if there was Democratically Elected government in China in first place. Initial suppression and more or less murder of Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, who tried raising alarm very beginning wouldn't have happened if there wasn't any fear of Autocratic regime. I heard today, that local Police and politicians were reprimanded and were forced to apologize to Doctor Li's family. But in reality, it wasn't there fault, if they wouldn't have suppressed those news and silenced Dr. Li, they would have been fired (or worse) long time back. In this case, they got away by just apologizing and may be reprimand on their service record. But, in truth that was failure of system. These folks were just scapegoat.
Nevertheless, coming back to the core topic. Time will tell, how we and rest of the other democratically elected governments perform in this time of crisis. However, best part of Democracy is that it will bring best out of the system. It will ultimately weed out bad actors and dumb Trumps.. but ultimately, it will prevail.. Already, after realizing his mistakes (though, can't admit), our President has started acting, and I am sure, that this pandemic unleashed by Chinese government (figuratively), will be over soon!
Everyone, stay safe and healthy!!
Chinese propaganda claims democracy can’t stop virus
By Trudy Rubin
Philadelphia Inquirer
China is promoting a propaganda narrative that its authoritarian system is uniquely capable of curbing the coronavirus, in contrast to the chaotic response of Europe and the United States.
Nevermind that the virus began in Wuhan and spread because Communist Party officials suppressed whistleblowers. Beijing’s new storyline stresses that its draconian lockdown of tens of millions of its people (and ability to build new 1,000-bed hospitals in 10 days) was able to control the virus, even as new cases are soaring in America.
This propaganda effort might seem unpromising, except that President Donald Trump has only just gotten serious about the pandemic, leaving the U.S. dangerously behind in containing and mitigating the virus. This gives global appeal to the Chinese argument that authoritarianism works better than democratic governance.
Hopefully, the strengths of our democracy will work — in evidence as governors, mayors, media and health experts pushed Trump to pay attention. But depending on what happens, the Chinese narrative could make global inroads and increase Beijing’s future geopolitical influence.
That narrative can be summed up by a People’s Daily article that asks “why China can pull together the imagination and courage needed to deliver a blow to the virus while the United States struggles to handle the outbreak.”
Beijing is even arguing that the disease didn’t originate in Wuhan. A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman tweeted that “it might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.” (This is more official than the suggestion of Sen. Tom Cotton, RArk., that the virus might be Chinese biowarfare. But it’s probably in part an unfortunate response to Trump’s calling the disease the “Chinese virus,” which has more of a racist tinge than his use of “Wuhan virus.” So each side is now politicizing the virus, with the Chinese hitting harder.) Of course, this Chinese narrative “is also designed to take some of the heat off Xi Jinping at home,” says the University of Pennsylvania’s Jacques deLisle, director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China.
Beijing has also just kicked out journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
You might conclude that the propaganda won’t get global traction because it’s a pretty transparent effort to airbrush Xi Jinping’s mistakes. Yet, the U.S. response to the crisis gives China’s propagandists a huge boost.
From late January through early March, Trump downplayed the coronavirus, insisting it was “totally under control.” His Jan. 31 decision to ban travelers from China was important, but he squandered its major benefit — providing time to prepare for an inevitable outbreak here. Trump rejected the early warnings of health experts and continues to insult journalists who question his endless misstatements. His false spin, echoed by Fox commentators, lulled his supporters into complacency. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll taken March 12-13 revealed that only 40% of Republicans believed the coronavirus was a real threat, compared with 76% of Democrats and 50% of independents.
So it’s not surprising that until late last week, Trump failed to mobilize the nation and push through a national emergency plan for testing, which is just starting to ramp up. Without widespread tests, or draconian Chinese-style lockdowns, it’s impossible to measure and stop the spread.
Trump also failed, until this week, to rally the military and all government agencies to help states expand medical facilities and to consult fully with governors desperate for national leadership (insulting them instead with labels like “snake”).
This has costs: The time lost — crucial to testing and containing the virus in order to avoid a national shutdown — cannot be made up.
Now, belatedly, the White House is organizing the whole of government. And listening to the experts. And taking the virus seriously, although Trump continues to spin and spout untruths.
We don’t need the Chinese to point out that this is “embarrassing” for a great democracy.
But we do need to demonstrate, for our own sakes, that their propaganda about a hapless democracy unable to cope is false. Even if that coping comes belatedly and in spite of failed White House leadership.
The message of Chinese propaganda, contrary to Beijing’s intentions, is that democracy requires new White House leadership up to the task. Trudy Rubin is a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist. © 2020, Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
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