Letters | Whatever China does about Covid, there’s just no pleasing the West

Readers discuss the changing Western narrative on Chinese Covid policy, the impact of the mainland border reopening, and humane treatment of injured animals

Reading Time:4 minutes

Medical staff of the COVID-19 testing centre of Paris Charles de Gaulle airport wait for travellers from China in Roissy, outside Paris, on January 1, as countries including France reinforce health measures for arrivals from China. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30am, 6 Jan 2023

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In the past three years, the West has been particularly adept at changing the narrative on Covid-19.

In the early stages of the pandemic, theories sprang up about Chinese government cover-ups, lab experiments gone awry, or biological weapons. As a result, racism, bigotry and political rhetoric were aimed at China and Chinese people.

But as Covid slowed in China and worsened in the West, the narrative soon changed: when the virus was spreading in China, it was the apocalypse; but if the virus is in the West, it can’t be that bad, can it? This was the time of the “Plandemic” conspiracy theory. As some argued that lockdowns were an overreaction, reopening became the priority.

Then, in 2021, as countries reopened, the Western media painted a picture of China using contagion as an excuse to keep people indoors.

As a diplomatic and international trade lawyer, I worked over the past six months to negotiate the tightrope between the international community’s desire for Hong Kong and mainland China to reopen, and the Chinese central government’s zero-Covid strategy. It was hard work but it seemed like finally things were getting back to normal. The news of China’s reopening should have been a breath of fresh air, but instead we are embroiled in another virtue-signalling war.