{"id":23389,"date":"2020-04-07T13:28:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T20:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=23389"},"modified":"2020-04-07T13:28:24","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T20:28:24","slug":"commitment-competence-and-readiness-turned-the-tide-in-chinas-virus-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=23389","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Commitment, competence, and readiness\u2019 turned the tide in China\u2019s virus fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn Photo: Courtesy of Kuhn<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/p>\n

The coronavirus is posing an increasingly tough challenge to the entire world. What can China\u2019s successful experience offer? What role does it play in the global anti-virus fight? What\u2019s behind some Western politicians\u2019 slandering of China\u2019s efforts? Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of The Kuhn Foundation and recipient of the China Reform Friendship Medal (2018), shared his insights on these issues and more with Global Times (GT) reporter Yan Yunming.<\/p>\n

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GT: The coronavirus outbreak within China has almost been brought under control. How do you evaluate China\u2019s efforts in curbing the epidemic?<\/p>\n

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Kuhn: To me, one of the probative insights of why and how China has contained, and will continue to contain, the epidemic is the remarkable parallelism between China\u2019s war on the novel coronavirus and China\u2019s war on poverty. Consider the parallel factors:<\/p>\n

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First, the operational leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), not just giving directives and pronouncements but actually implementing programs and projects through the CPC organizational structure – central and five levels of local government (provincial, municipal, county, township, village).<\/p>\n

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Second, the leadership of President Xi Jinping, who sets an example for other government officials. President Xi makes the remarkable statement \u2013 \u201cI have spent more energy on poverty alleviation than on anything else.\u201d I know no other national leader who has made such an assertion.<\/p>\n

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Third, the mobilization leadership of the CPC, able to command the country\u2019s resources in personnel and materials. For example, assigning \u201csister\u201d relationships between 16 strong provinces and specific cities in Hubei. An important factor is that since the CPC controls the PLA, through the Central Military Commission, the military can be mobilized instantly to help in domestic crises, like earthquakes, floods and now epidemics.<\/p>\n

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I take it seriously when the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee calls the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic \u201ca major test of China\u2019s system and capacity for governance\u201d – a phrase of such significance that in my 30-plus years of watching China, I do not recall the like.<\/p>\n

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Let me explain why I was, from the beginning, confident that China would overcome the epidemic. I had three reasons: China\u2019s commitment, competence, and readiness to change and improve.<\/p>\n

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China\u2019s commitment to fight COVID-19 is exemplified by the country\u2019s astonishing mobilization to stop its spread. The government issued strict and resolute directives with instant and draconian punishment for non-compliance.<\/p>\n

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The whole country marched to this music. This was China\u2019s monumental \u201cwhole of society\u201d commitment. China\u2019s mobilization was unprecedented in global health history. Nowhere could it work like it works in China. And the reason it works relates to how the party system works.<\/p>\n

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As noted above, it is the same kind of commitment and mobilization that the party has been using to win the battle against poverty since around 2012, with its targeted or precision poverty alleviation campaign, coordinating party leadership and organizations at central government and the five levels of local government. The structural similarities between China\u2019s war on the coronavirus and its war on poverty are indeed striking.<\/p>\n

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China\u2019s competence to fight the virus is exemplified by the country\u2019s unremitting implementation of its commitment: locking down Wuhan; house-to-house temperature checks; the party\u2019s grid management system of social control; postponing the return to work after the Lunar New Year break of hundreds of millions of travelers.<\/p>\n

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When I discuss the five or so primary reasons for China\u2019s remarkable development over the past four decades, I always include the party\u2019s willingness to admit and correct errors. Hence, in tracking this virus epic, I focus on the leadership’s forthright acknowledgement of \u201cshortcomings and deficiencies\u201d in the country\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

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As with any contagion early action is always essential in stopping the spread of virulent diseases. But how to develop an early warning system? The challenge is handling an avalanche of information, from diverse public and private sources and of variegated and uncertain quality.<\/p>\n

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A strong, top-down system is effective at stopping rumors, especially with advanced IT technologies, but it is challenged to enable diverse voices to surface and expose vital truths about frontline problems early in the process.<\/p>\n

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Transparency is the key. The government states that it will learn lessons from the outbreak, which will enhance its capacity for governance. Self-correction, the party says, is its hallmark.<\/p>\n

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If so, future historians may well look upon China\u2019s fight against the coronavirus as a turning point in worldwide efforts to contain outbreaks of novel diseases and stop their spread, which globalization and ubiquitous air travel have made vital. History may well thank China for pioneering how to deal with virulent contagions in a globalized world.<\/p>\n

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GT: Some observers view the epidemic containment work as an assessment of different political systems. Europe has become the new epicenter of the global pandemic, and the number of infections in the US is also rising rapidly. How do you evaluate the measures taken by these democracies?<\/p>\n

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Kuhn: There are no perfect political systems; all political systems have tradeoffs. No doubt, China\u2019s system of party-led, strong government can deal more effectively, more efficiently and more rapidly with the stringent demands of a lockdown, quarantine and containment, and mobilization of national resources and healthcare professionals. Democratic countries, such as those in Europe, are used to policy decisions being hotly debated by opposing political parties, and in the media, and thus are not as suited in dealing with emergency situations. Given the emergency situation in Europe, especially in Italy and Spain, they are now seeking to learn from China’s containment success. Conversely, there are other areas of contemporary societies where China may learn from Europe.<\/p>\n

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In this time of global shifts, the global community must understand one another, especially with respect to China. Simply put, China\u2019s path is socialism with Chinese characteristics, which stresses the leadership of the CPC, and the CPC\u2019s commitment to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the broad-based fulfillment of the Chinese people. China\u2019s path maintains a strong government in all sectors, promotes economic development with the market playing a \u201cdecisive role\u201d, enforces social stability and regulates social discourse, and prioritizes the welfare of all citizens, including the poorest.<\/p>\n

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The unique feature distinguishing the China model from Western models, of course, is that the CPC, the party, maintains perpetual leadership and utilizes a meritocratic system rooted in Chinese civilization. Developmental policies that must have long-term commitments, such as infrastructure, science and technology, and poverty alleviation, can have long-term commitment.<\/p>\n

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GT: How do you see China\u2019s role in the global fight against the pandemic?<\/p>\n

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Kuhn: President Xi\u2019s four proposals at the G20 on Thursday to enable humanity as a whole to win the battle against this major infectious disease, and the virtual proximity of world leaders in this extraordinary G20 meeting, give enriched and real-world meaning to the vision of an international community with a shared future and a common destiny.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA community with a shared future for all humanity\u201d is a grand vision with multiple applications. For years, it has driven foreign policy, especially the Belt and Road Initiative<\/em>, helping to rectify global imbalances.<\/p>\n

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Few ever imagined that a pandemic could become so grave so fast. But as the pandemic has burst into planetary consciousness, it demonstrates viscerally the global criticality of \u201cshared future\u201d thinking.<\/p>\n

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The challenge for China is to elevate this vision above what appears to some as competitive positioning or even as a sprint to assert China\u2019s leadership. China\u2019s experience in containing the contagion, which many countries now desperately need, provides just such an opportunity.<\/p>\n

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By sending \u201cbattle-tested\u201d medical teams to countries suffering under the siege of contagion, China brings to bear experts with contemporary, frontline, epidemic experience. China\u2019s evolved know-how in fighting and containing the novel coronavirus, especially the selfless work of dedicated Chinese healthcare and logistics professionals, can enable other countries, where outbreaks occurred after China\u2019s, to benefit from Chinas experience.<\/p>\n

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In addition, as China is the world\u2019s manufacturing center, and having ramped up production of healthcare goods, the country has unexcelled capacity for supplying desperately needed materials and equipment. Now is the time to get needed supplies to where they are needed. Nothing else should matter.<\/p>\n

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GT: What influence will the pandemic have on the Chinese economy and the global economy? Will it be a short or long-term effect?<\/p>\n

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Kuhn: It is natural for the economy to suffer because consumption is so dramatically suppressed, the outbreak having come at the worst time, right before the Chinese New Year Spring Festival. But there is no simple statement about the economic condition because the epidemic’s impact is differential – some industries are hit very hard where it will be difficult to recoup the losses, like hospitality, restaurants, airlines; some industries are hit hard but should expect to have a \u201cbounce\u201d make-up after the epidemic is over, like automotive.<\/p>\n

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I expect e-commerce to do very well, even to accelerate its market penetration, because people will feel more comfortable, at least for a while, shopping online and not going to public places.<\/p>\n

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Certainly, the central government is enacting policies in support of companies that must navigate several hard months, providing special financings and abatements, particularly for small and medium-sized companies. These programs are in process, giving a confidence boost.<\/p>\n

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In general, China\u2019s economic recovery, once the epidemic is contained, is the \u201ceasy\u201d part. One need only review China\u2019s recent history to appreciate the potency and resiliency of Chinese workers, who are the foundation of China’s historic transformation, and to recognize the depth and sophistication of China\u2019s industrial chain, which has development dramatically in recent years and is the deepest and most comprehensive in the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One need not be an economist to forecast that, with the novel coronavirus largely contained \u2014 but with the country remaining cautious and alert \u2014 there will be \u201csnap back\u201d or a \u201cmake up\u201d period of strong growth driven by pent-up demand.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source\uff1aGlobal Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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