DW: What might be the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the Chinese government? Zhang Lifan: The epidemic exposes the flaws in the modernization of governance that the Chinese government has been boasting about. It is clear that China hasn’t truly modernized its governance system, and 17 years after the SARS epidemic, it also hasn’t established a public epidemic prevention system. In a way, this epidemic exposes another kind of virus in China, which is the “virus of bureaucracy.” China’s governance system remains totalitarian and hierarchical rather than modernized. That’s why when Beijing has to deal with a large-scale epidemic, its governance style remains fragile. Beijing has been trying to control the narrative about the coronavirus epidemic, including censoring relevant conversations online. How do you assess the motivation and impact of Beijing’s tight control over freedom of speech? The Chinese government’s mishandling of the epidemic has a lot to do with its censorship. However, in order to maintain the stability of the regime, they have no bandwidth for actually containing the virus outbreak. The most important thing to the Chinese Communist Party is to safeguard its regime. Read more: From bats to pangolins, how do viruses reach us? If we take… Read full this story
- 'Nobody’s Lake': US Admiral Warns of Russia's, China's Activities in Arctic
- China's Plan for $30Bln US Agriculture Imports 'Camouflages Real Issue'
- China’s Influence in Balkans Poses Risks, Report Warns
- Global economic outlook darkens as US and China figures spook markets
- Burst main leaves Bourne residents without water
- 'Don’t be naive with China', EU leaders tell Italy
- Germany to create fund to foil foreign takeovers after China moves
- China Deploys Troops Near India-Pak Border to Safeguard CPEC Projects
- Caracas’ oil central to convoluted nexus of global players’ interests – US-Cuba trade council chief
- EU tells China to rebalance relation as no longer developing nation
Coronavirus: China mainly interested in 'safeguarding the regime' have 314 words, post on www.dw.com at August 2, 2020. This is cached page on Europe Breaking News. If you want remove this page, please contact us.
