Wenfang Tang

Opinion | Amid the coronavirus crisis, China is paying a high price for its authoritarian system

While blame for the epidemic cannot be pinned solely on the government’s attempts to control and manipulate information, its heavy-handed approach has further eroded public trust. Beijing should beware the high price of an authoritarian regime

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Wenfang Tang

Published: 9:00am, 20 Feb 2020Updated: 5:26pm, 20 Feb 2020

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Chinese social media users, Western media commentators and news reports have strongly criticised the Chinese government’s handling of the crisis. The consensus seems to be that censorship is to blame for the outbreak.

Some people point their fingers directly at China's authoritarian political system for its inability to handle such a public health crisis. Is authoritarianism really to blame?

One of the earliest warnings was sounded on December 30 by Dr Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at the Wuhan Central Hospital, who told his medical school classmates that there had been seven cases of a virus similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome.

After his message was leaked and circulated online, he was hauled up before local police for spreading rumours and warned about the consequences of causing social instability. He had to sign a letter promising not to do it again.

As the epidemic got out of control, it became clear that the authorities in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, were late in warning people about the infections. Chinese social media users did not hesitate to voice their opinion.

While some defended officials’ decision to censor information about the unconfirmed Sars-like outbreak, many others criticised them for trying to hide the information and missing the window for early prevention.