Are media giving China's post-COVID proposals a chance?
Headline Buster
12:32

COVID-19 has plunged the world into uncertainly and anxiety. Coronavirus cases and deaths keep rising in many countries, economies are in freefall, and global trade is under unprecedented pressure. More than ever, countries need solutions. In a series of major international events this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping shared ideas for addressing these issues. But when you look at some media reports on the topic, they have misinterpreted or totally missed the key points.

From November 17 to 22, President Xi delivered speeches at three major multilateral events in a row: the BRICS Summit, APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, and the G20 Leaders' Summit. His 23 proposals mainly revolved around two important challenges: fighting the virus and reviving the global economy.

To fight the virus, China called for more solidarity and cooperation by supporting the World Health Organization, establishing an internationally recognized mechanism for health codes, and making sure the vaccines are a global public good. To revive the global economy, President Xi proposed to "restore the secure and smooth operation of global industrial and supply chains," and to "harness the role of the digital economy" among other solutions.

But in the media reports, some of these messages were overshadowed by skepticism and doubt, as if any idea proposed by China poses a grave threat to the rest of the world.

A New York Times headline from November 23 reads "China Says It Remains Open to the World, but Wants to Dictate Terms." It says, "China's leader, Xi Jinping, is pursuing a strategy to make the country's economy more self-sufficient, while making other places more dependent on it than ever." What China is proposing is for countries to keep trading with one another. However, the article has somehow interpreted that message as "making other countries more dependent on it," even though China bought over $2 trillion worth of foreign goods in 2019, for example, and that amount keeps increasing.

A CNN article looks at a different angle. A November 23 headline reads "China's Xi Jinping is pushing for a global Covid QR code. He may struggle to convince the world." The article points out how effective health codes can be (and have been in China), and that several countries are testing their own versions but without any international coordination so far.

But then the article focuses on concerns about China when it says: "Given the growing concern by countries around the world about the use of Chinese technology in sensitive industries, there would likely be serious questions about how a QR system coordinated with Beijing would function." The question is somewhat understandable given how much shade has been thrown on Chinese technology in recent years. But the article missed several important points. 

First, the health codes work, and China has the numbers to prove it, both in terms of new cases and its economic recovery. Second, critics around the world were quick to condemn China's methods to fight the virus early on, calling the Wuhan lockdown a "violation of human rights," for example. Many said these methods could never be replicated in other countries because they were too authoritarian. But as the number of cases rose many countries did adopt some of the measures China pioneered, such as lockdowns, quarantines, and social distancing. So why automatically rule out another method that just might help? 

Finally, it's not as if President Xi is telling countries to use China's health codes. No, just that whatever the system is, it should be "internationally accepted" so that people can start to travel again, business can flow, and families can reunite safely. Even the article says, "Xi didn't explicitly say what type of app or QR code system he was suggesting or who would design and run it."

Sometimes it seems that whenever China pitches an idea, it's automatically dismissed, which can harm the brainstorming process that produces global solutions the world needs. So let's try to take a step back, cast off our prejudices, and come together to solve these urgent issues. We can't afford to wait.

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