Page 24 - 綜合新聞560期04-18-2020

04-18-2020
Compact News / 綜合新聞
Compact News / 綜合新聞 04-18-2020
China’s Ability in Dealing with Pandemic Dr. Wordman

A recent article written by Prof. Robert Peckham, outcry of China and Chinese people being sadly “Beijing’s SARS Attack” which “catalyzed a policy
an author of the book, Epidemics in Modern Chi- bullied by the Western Powers (especially 1890’s). U-turn in China”... “The mayor of Beijing and the
na, and a MB Lee Professor in the Humanities and The intellectuals in China during the late 19th and minister of public health resigned, and the govern-
Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), has early 20th century used sick man and sick nation ment embarked on a concerted and much-publi-
caught my attention. His article is entitled, Past to shame themselves and to motivate their fellow cized campaign to contain the epidemic.”
Pandemics Exposed China’s Weakness - The cur- countrymen to reform, to revolt and to rebuild Chi-
rent one highlights its strength, appeared in For- na. When the world is now facing the challenge of China successfully contained SARS. In Peckham’s
eign Affairs (3-27-2020). As a director and founder COVID-19 together, such derogatory article in WSJ view, China has learned a good lesson from SARS
of the multi-disciplinary Center for the Humanities is not a display of freedom of speech but a shame- that is used in the COVID-19 pandemic; XI’s cam-
and Medicine (CHM), he oversees a programme of ful discrimination. Peckham clearly has a purpose paign in fighting the Coronavirus is strikingly sim-
research involving a wide range of disciplines net- of citing the WSJ article. He went on to say that the ilar to what was used against SARS. The Chinese
worked to national and international institutions. rapid politicization of the new coronavirus, and government successfully marshaled tens of thou-
Also as a professor in the Department of History, his particularly of China’s role in containing it, has his- sands of health-care workers and military person-
research focuses on histories of infectious disease, torical precedents. nel to support Wuhan where the Coronavirus first
epidemics, and global pandemic threats. Prof. broke out. Xi described the pandemic as a “total
Peckham’s article comes as a timely dissertation Peckham then reviewed the impact of plague, war” taking stringent measures of closing down
on an important topic - management of pandem- both bubonic and pneumonic types, in China and the 14 million residents city and applying nation-
ic. However, the article seemed to be tailored for how they were managed by Chinese ‘authorities’. wide testing and quarantine practice. Now, China
Foreign Affairs’ political agenda, the discussion is Extending to China’s Republic Period (1911-1949) has contained the pandemic with zero new case
miles high in the political cloud than on the ground and the People’s Republic of China (1949-1970), occurring; the city Wuhan is now open to visitors
of pandemic disease management (rather disap- Professor Peckham made glossary linkage of dis- and the industries are gradually returning to pre-
pointing). ease control and China’s political environment. COVID-19 operations. China has essentially won
This glossary discussion was unfortunately lack of the COVID-19 pandemic war. Peckham reiterated
Pandemic management is such an important topic; facts and clear evidence on either the weak dis- media’s speculation of “the scenario of leaked in-
it deserves serious discussion, especially when the ease management or the complex political struc- formation, cover-up and crackdown” repeated in
entire world is facing the challenge of COVID-19. ture during that period of time. It is a good topic COVID-19 pandemic. Personally, I would not give
Hence, I hope Peckham’s article will stimulate dis- for PhD research but it may be too difficult to find much value to that kind of story. In the very begin-
cussion on China’s weakness and strength in pan- detailed citizen’s healthcare information from that ning of a disease, before knowing whether or not
demic management from the past to present. First, period of China. Hence one can not take Peck- it is pandemic, the information management is in
I agree with his point on not politicizing pandemic ham’s remarks seriously, for example, on relating a gray area between privacy and public concern
and his conclusion on government efficiency, but disease management to Mao’s cultural revolution and between causing panic and reaching only to
his political arguments on relating weakness in dis- or claiming that “disease had revealed China’s the right professionals to make critical decisions. In
ease management to government structure (Chi- political system for what it was and in need of fun- Wuhan’s case, the delay was short and measures
na) was based on little concrete evidence. China damental reform”. The revolution and political re- were swift, the success of containing the pandem-
was very weak in 19th and early 20th century in her form was far more motivated by the ‘sick man feel- ic speaks for itself.
governance (diplomacy, defense, industrializa- ing’ caused by interference and invasion from the
tion, etc.) due to poor leadership (emperor) and foreign powers striping Chinese people’s dignity Peckham’s conclusion states that China has shared
foreign powers’ interference and control, there- than from the plague or any other disease. its expertise with the European Union, (I may add,
fore, China’s healthcare was weak as well. Peck- Trump said he had learned a lot from Xi in their one
ham reviewed pandemic history from plague, to Peckham’s idea that the Chinese Communist Party hour phone discussion) and pledged $20 million
HIV/AIDS, to SARS and COVID-19 but he had no fac- (CCP) looks at pandemic from a statisticians lens to WHO in its fight against the virus, dispatched
tual case discussion for China other than blaming is an important topic worthy discussion but he did medical teams and supplies to Iran, Iraq, Italy, UK
her for lack of political and economic openness. not elaborate. His remark that the disease justi- and Serbia, and promised to help African coun-
China was shut out of global fair interaction and fies one party rule had no clear arguments. He tries meet the crisis.(China donated ventilators to
forced into isolation in most part of that history. credited Mao’s ‘barefoot doctor’ and community NY State). Xi has begun to look more like a glob-
As a historian, Peckham’s view is too simplistic in healthcare program, a vision of from-the-ground- al leader committed to health for all, while the
painting China being weak and opaque in pan- up healthcare, “helped inspire a global shift: in Western states appear to be improvising with dif-
demic management for that period of time. 1978, …. the WHO International Conference on ficulties. Perhaps for the readers of Foreign Affairs,
Primary Health Care adopted the Declaration of Peckham draws attention of strongman leadership
Professor Peckham first quoted Bruce Aylward, who Alma-Ata, which upheld health as a basic human versus incompetency within the democracies in
led the joint mission of WHO with China on fight- right and emphasized community-based health dealing with the pandemic. Although, I agree with
ing COVID-19, in praising China: “probably the care for all”. In China’s open and reform period, Peckham’s implication that an authoritarian gov-
most ambitious, and I would say, agile and ag- healthcare was a number one priority that offered ernment is more efficient in handling the pandem-
gressive disease-containment effort in history.” In China a strong base for handling HIV/AIDS and ic, but in my opinion, learning from experience is
contrast, Peckham cited the infamous Wall Street SARS pandemic. Peckham hinted that there was a extremely important. China learned well from SARS
Journal article entitled, “China is the sick man pattern in China’s pandemic management having that helped contain COVID19 pandemic. Now the
of Asia” which the Secretary of State, Mike Pom- leaked information, cover-ups, and crackdowns. world should be humble to learn from China to
peo, made an improper defense of it as free press. He cited journalist Susan Jakes’ searing exposé deal with the pandemic.
Peckham gave a historical origin of “China as a in Time magazine, based on a signed statement
sick man” coming from Chinese patriotic scholars’ by a whistle-blower Dr. Jiang, under the headline,
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