Chee Yik-wai

Opinion | Western calls for greater Chinese transparency on the coronavirus reflect a clash of culture

As the US and Europe demand more information sharing, neither Beijing nor Chinese people share the Western value that transparency is intrinsic to good governance. Nor do they believe public institutions must always be subject to checks and balances

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US President Donald Trump has accused China of hiding true infection and death numbers, but whatever they are, they would not help the US improve its international standing or its capacity to overcome the pandemic. Photo: Reuters

Chee Yik-wai

Published: 5:00am, 30 Apr 2020Updated: 6:37am, 30 Apr 2020

In the West it is common to portray the Chinese government as being relatively non-transparent compared to many other political institutions and organisations.

The Covid-19 pandemic has raised serious questions on whether the rest of the world is paying a price for this perceived lack of transparency. The US, in particular, has argued that it was ill-advised by the World Health Organisation, which it accused of taking the Chinese side and exercising little scrutiny over China’s initial handling of the outbreak.

Calls for China to pay for its mishandling of the outbreak have been growing from other countries such as Britain – all under the name of a lack of transparency. On the latest controversy over the origin of the virus, even German Chancellor Angela Merkel has joined the chorus pushing China to be more transparent and open.

The Chinese government does not agree with this view of the situation of course. And the overwhelming majority of Chinese ruling elites may not even care about transparency as long as there is good governance – perhaps with “Chinese characteristics” – which promises economic prosperity and improved living standards for each generation.

While there are no common objective standards used to measure transparency, China’s government has increased the amount and frequency of information it releases and expanded social competition over ideas from an economic standpoint.