3 ms·

People are very quick to blame Chinese officials, but I think they were correct in avoiding panic before knowing for sure the true dimensions of the problem the

People are very quick to blame Chinese officials, but I think they were correct in avoiding panic before knowing for sure the true dimensions of the problem they had at hand. The government has its credibility at stake: if you start using harsh measures without evidence, you lose credibility for the next time it is really needed.

zozbot234 7y ago
> People are very quick to blame Chinese officials, but I think they were correct in avoiding panic That's for sure but there's a useful middle ground between mindless panic and total complacency, and these Chinese officials were way too far on the complacency side for quite some time.
spectramax 7y ago
"You lose credibility for the next time it is really needed" when I hear the government harrass NBA officials, gamers, non-citizens of the world when they criticize the CCP, going around banning movies and books left and right, never mind the extraordinary surveillance state it has built for its own citizens. I feel like the CCP has already lost its credibility when it can't have a spine and a composure, constantly feeling insecure against anyone who criticizes them. Fuck the CCP.
- SZJX 7y ago
  A quite black-and-white view to take when it's shown pretty well in this letter how the containment strategy they adopted apparently cut down the transmission a lot and potentially prevented many deaths. Would an alternative government that you propose do better in China? Very debatable. The world is not a good vs. evil story you know.
  - adventured 7y ago
    Most countries would not intentionally cover up serious outbreaks like this, much less do it twice (as previously with SARS). They wouldn't threaten and silence numerous doctors that tried to warn everyone. They wouldn't blockade access to one of the world's largest cities, to prevent outside health inspectors from assessing what was really going on. It wasn't until the first week of February that they were willing to let a major contingent of outside experts in, including from the US. That was two months into the outbreak and a point where things had already gotten very bad. If this had started in France and the US asked to send experts in to help, France would not deny that request, they wouldn't blockade Paris off from all foreign access to hide what was really happening (how bad it was, and what they were doing to people).
Haga 7y ago
[Citation needed] China is always great- according to China. And the WHO is saying it too.
Renaud 7y ago
You have to be kidding. They were correct in threatening a doctor who reported what he saw (facts) to retract his statements as being _false_? The local government didn't want to believe in the threat and wanted very much to keep any negative news hushed out of fear of looking bad to the central government. So there you have it, a country governed by fear where people prefer to hide issues instead of quickly seeking help. They could have done it through internal channels, without the public knowing but no, they crushed the messengers and tried to hide the facts until it was too late. The central government admitted it itself: https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1506445-20200203.htm https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1506445-20200203.h...

zozbot234 7y ago

> People are very quick to blame Chinese officials, but I think they were correct in avoiding panic That's for sure but there's a useful middle ground between mindless panic and total complacency, and these Chinese officials were way too far on the complacency side for quite some time.

spectramax 7y ago

"You lose credibility for the next time it is really needed" when I hear the government harrass NBA officials, gamers, non-citizens of the world when they criticize the CCP, going around banning movies and books left and right, never mind the extraordinary surveillance state it has built for its own citizens. I feel like the CCP has already lost its credibility when it can't have a spine and a composure, constantly feeling insecure against anyone who criticizes them. Fuck the CCP.

SZJX 7y ago
A quite black-and-white view to take when it's shown pretty well in this letter how the containment strategy they adopted apparently cut down the transmission a lot and potentially prevented many deaths. Would an alternative government that you propose do better in China? Very debatable. The world is not a good vs. evil story you know.
- adventured 7y ago
  Most countries would not intentionally cover up serious outbreaks like this, much less do it twice (as previously with SARS). They wouldn't threaten and silence numerous doctors that tried to warn everyone. They wouldn't blockade access to one of the world's largest cities, to prevent outside health inspectors from assessing what was really going on. It wasn't until the first week of February that they were willing to let a major contingent of outside experts in, including from the US. That was two months into the outbreak and a point where things had already gotten very bad. If this had started in France and the US asked to send experts in to help, France would not deny that request, they wouldn't blockade Paris off from all foreign access to hide what was really happening (how bad it was, and what they were doing to people).

Haga 7y ago

[Citation needed] China is always great- according to China. And the WHO is saying it too.

Renaud 7y ago

You have to be kidding. They were correct in threatening a doctor who reported what he saw (facts) to retract his statements as being _false_? The local government didn't want to believe in the threat and wanted very much to keep any negative news hushed out of fear of looking bad to the central government. So there you have it, a country governed by fear where people prefer to hide issues instead of quickly seeking help. They could have done it through internal channels, without the public knowing but no, they crushed the messengers and tried to hide the facts until it was too late. The central government admitted it itself: https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1506445-20200203.htm https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1506445-20200203.h...