The Coronavirus Outbreak: How Democratic Taiwan Outperformed Authoritarian China Proving the Value of Free Flow of Information

The Diplomat ^ | 02/26/2020 | Victor Pu

[SeekAndFind]

The novel strain of coronavirus (officially dubbed COVID-19) that originated in Wuhan, China has spread to almost 30 countries, including regional neighbors like South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, and countries as far away as the United States, Canada, and Brazil.

As of February 26, more than 81,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide, and the death toll has surpassed 2,700, mostly in China. The epicenter of the virus crisis, China, has been suffering socially and economically not only on account of the virus, but also because of the Chinese government’s problematic policies.

The Chinese government has been working to tackle the coronavirus outbreak by using multiple measures to contain the spread of the virus as well as information about the outbreak. Most famously, the government imposed an extreme quarantine in Wuhan on January 23, which is still in place over a month later. Many cities in Hubei province and elsewhere in China have also implemented lockdowns or restrictions while cases of infection continue to increase.

Besides these measures in the physical world, the Chinese government has attempted to quarantine discussion of the epidemic in the realm of public opinion.

From the first appearance of the new virus last December to the lockdown of massive cities in mid-January, the Chinese authorities chose to restrict public access to the information about the epidemic by silencing people, most famously the whistleblower Doctor Li Wenliang. In the early stages of the outbreak, the Chinese government issued a statement asserting that “the disease is preventable and controllable,” and announcements sent by Chinese officials to World Health Organization (WHO) office in Beijing claimed that there was no evidence of the disease being transmitted between humans.

[SeekAndFind]

CONTRAST WHAT CHINA IS DOING TO THE *FREE* CHINA — TAIWAN:

Consider:

* Taiwan, a country that has been excluded from the WHO for decades thanks to China’s political pressure, has demonstrated that the better way to contain the coronavirus is not to quarantine news about epidemic, but to make it easier and more convenient for people to access relevant information.

* Even though Taiwan has not been kept officially informed by the WHO about the epidemic, the Taiwanese government promptly undertook measures to prevent the spread of the virus in Taiwan in late December last year, and organized the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) in January 2020. Since the set-up of the CECC, it has been holding a press conference almost every day to announce the latest policy and information on the epidemic, and to clarify rumors that are circulating on social media.

* The Taiwanese government also uses digital tools to communicate with the public amid the virus outbreak. For example, Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare and many Taiwanese politicians of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have used their official social media accounts on outlets like Facebook, LINE, and YouTube to keep the public well informed on everything from the number of available face masks to the updated policy.

* Taiwan’s active civil society also plays a critical role in this crisis. To save people time in looking for stores selling face masks, a Taiwanese software engineer built an online real-time map that can show where masks are stocked in convenience stores and drugstores across the island.

* Following this idea, Digital Minister Audrey Tang, a coordinator between the government and private sector, rapidly developed a better version of the information platform with government data.

* We also have Taiwanese fact-check institutions and groups, including Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) and MyGoPen. They make an effort to fact-check and correct disinformation or misinformation on the epidemic, which mostly circulates online, meanwhile disseminating the right information to the public as third-party independent institutions.

Armed with transparent and sufficient information on the coronavirus epidemic, Taiwanese people actively follow the government’s policies and take actions to curb the spread of virus individually by washing hands and wearing masks. Therefore, even though the self-ruled island is very close to China, the number of infection cases in Taiwan is still low (32 cases, as of February 26) compared to neighboring countries like South Korea (1,261 cases) and Japan (885 cases). Even though the community spread of the virus in Taiwan is looming and seems inevitable, the Taiwanese government and people have shown that they are determined to work together to fight against COVID-19.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SeekAndFind]

There is a lesson to learn from the contrasting approaches of these “Two” China’s.

LOOKING AT THE PEOPLE’s REPUBLIC OF CHINA, what happens in authoritarian countries tends to follow this pattern: the local government hides the truth from the central government to avoid blame, and the central government also lies to its people to deflect public criticism at the beginning of an outbreak. As a result, measures to control the disease are delayed and eventually in vain.

As the number of infectious cases climbs, China’s government ramped up propaganda, covering pro-government and pro-Chinese Communist Party stories, rather than communicating with the public. Due to the lack of transparency and accountability, the authoritarian regime’s propaganda and regulatory departments tend to take actions to censor and control information. And the results prove that this is definitely not the best public health strategy.

[RayChuang88]

The fact the Taiwanese government quickly took action to help the local population in regards to COVID-19 tells me that open knowledge like this could actually help mitigate the disease.

[A Voice]

Commies have never given two shiite’s about their people just their own worthless hides.

History is your friend and mentor.

[Zhang Fei]

The aristocrats who rule China are mainly interested in keeping their grip on power. ~74 years after its initial victory over the Tsars, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s hold on power went away in 1991. China’s Communist Party came to power in 1949. 2020 marks its 71st year in power. Given the Chinese predilection for numerology, you can bet that both party rivals and influential men not currently in government are individually getting their acts together in preparation for the big game - a competition for the throne similar to what brought the party to power in 1949.

The potential for a new cycle of revolts followed by regime collapse is why Xi Jinping worries about this disease, the way he worries about every aspect of Chinese society that might threaten his rule. The fact that it is now acknowledged as a very big deal means that potential Chinese rivals, in and out of the Party, are now looking at challenging his rule. Big crises have traditionally been the equivalent of a dinner bell or the report of a starter’s gun for ambitious Chinese power contenders because they signal regime vulnerability. China is entering a period of potential regime collapse, and Xi knows it.

[sauropod]

.

[null and void]

Communists lie?

WHO knew?

Bring Out Your Dead

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

If a quarantine saves just one child's life, it's worth it.

[Jane Long]

Thanks for posting.

[ModelBreaker]

Paraphrasing: “The progressive deep-state aristocrats who rule America are mainly interested in keeping their grip on power. ~77 years after their initial victory over Herbert Hoover, the Deep State’s rule was first challenged in 2016. The outcome is still uncertain.”