Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) concession to end Beijing’s “zero COVID” policy is a rare accomplishment for any protest in China. While giving credit to the “Blank Paper Movement,” where the credit is due, there were indications that the COVID-19 pandemic in China had surged beyond belief. Xi might be simply leveraging on the protests to lift quarantine restrictions and disguise his inability to handle the pandemic.
The recent deaths of 21 retired professors and 12 retired staffers from Tsinghua University and Peking University within one month is the tip of the iceberg that betrays Beijing’s massive fatalities under the surface.
Infections and deaths are also exploding in other cities to the extent that medicine stocks are running out or are priced at hundreds of US dollars. The human plight might be exploding on an unimaginable scale.
China was among the first to develop a COVID-19 vaccine by means of an inactivated virus, which was the basis for vaccines against polio, as developed by Jonas Salk in the 1950s, and rabies and hepatitis A, for example. Inactivated virus vaccines cannot infect cells, but stimulate antibody-mediated responses, and therefore have weaker and shorter-lived immune response.
According to a study published in The Lancet and cited by The Economist earlier this year, one or two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine produced in China by Sinovac Biotech Ltd (科興) has much lower efficacy than Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine in all age groups in general, but among older people in particular.
However, a third dose of Sinovac’s vaccine showed about equal efficacy for the earlier variants, but does not protect as well against the Omicron subvariants of SARS-CoV-2, Bloomberg reported.
The sad truth is that national pride has led the Chinese government to reject outside help. China’s authoritarian model of combating the COVID-19 pandemic did not champion the protection of lives, especially those aged 65 and older.
By contrast, Taiwan leveraged its experience in containing the 2003 SARS outbreak by responding to the COVID-19 crisis with rapid measures, early deployment, prudent action and transparency. The latest data show that among 8.5 million infections, only 0.45 percent became seriously ill.
The lack of transparency in the authoritarian model of disease prevention has left many serious questions to be asked. What is the population percentage inoculated with three doses of vaccines? If the Chinese vaccines were effective, why was a strict lockdown necessary?
As many retirees, including a number of well-known people, died suddenly, what are the real-life efficacy rates among different age groups? Did China stock enough medicines to treat patients? How effective are the Chinese vaccines against serious symptoms, and what are the chances of mutated pathogens developing if many people become seriously ill?
This last question is critical, as Western vaccines might prove to be much less effective against variants that might develop. That means the COVID-19 pandemic could easily re-emerge around the world as a result.
Demanding the Chinese government to be open and transparent required a nationwide protest to protect lives in China, and beyond, which allowed the international community to better prepare and offer help. In fact, Washington said it would help China deal with the surge of COVID-19 infections if Beijing requests assistance.
The Chinese government must make a choice to either cover up the problem for the sake of national pride, or be open to outside help to save lives in an unprecedented crisis.
Only a democratic government that upholds human rights and freedom of speech can offer transparency. This pandemic can be an opportunity for China to grow into a democratic and free country, and to benefit people at home and abroad.
James J.Y. Hsu is a retired professor of physics.
Two weeks ago, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) raised hackles in Taiwan by posting to her 2.6 million Instagram followers that she was visiting “Taipei, China.” Yeoh’s post continues a long-standing trend of Chinese propaganda that spreads disinformation about Taiwan’s political status and geography, aimed at deceiving the world into supporting its illegitimate claims to Taiwan, which is not and has never been part of China. Taiwan must respond to this blatant act of cognitive warfare. Failure to respond merely cedes ground to China to continue its efforts to conquer Taiwan in the global consciousness to justify an invasion. Taiwan’s government
This month’s news that Taiwan ranks as Asia’s happiest place according to this year’s World Happiness Report deserves both celebration and reflection. Moving up from 31st to 27th globally and surpassing Singapore as Asia’s happiness leader is gratifying, but the true significance lies deeper than these statistics. As a society at the crossroads of Eastern tradition and Western influence, Taiwan embodies a distinctive approach to happiness worth examining more closely. The report highlights Taiwan’s exceptional habit of sharing meals — 10.1 shared meals out of 14 weekly opportunities, ranking eighth globally. This practice is not merely about food, but represents something more
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
RSS