Right now, the world is experiencing one of the worst public health emergencies in living memory and is on the brink of international economic disaster. This kind of global event is unprecedented in modern times and many governments are understandably struggling to deal with it given the complexity of modern civilisation. 

How could something like this happen? Undoubtedly, viruses aren’t anyone’s fault in the grand scheme of things. They’re a grim reality of life that we have to accept. Having said that, the severity of this situation cannot be attributed to just bad luck. One actor bears significant responsibility for the way things have unfolded: the Chinese Communist party (CCP).

When reports of a new flu virus began to emerge within China the government went to great lengths to supress this information. Samples of the disease were destroyed, lab testing was shut down and medical staff were ordered not to talk about it. Draconian measures were implemented to silence anyone who spoke out. Dr Li Wenliang, one of the doctors who initially tried to warn others about the virus was silenced and punished by the authorities (he unfortunately passed away from the virus in early February).

On top of all this, the CCP then outright lied to global health institutions about the situation, claiming that there was no human-to-human transmission of the virus. A cross-party group of MPs has strongly criticised this “deliberate misleading” of the international community – which includes scientists – which resulted in “obscured analysis in the critical early stages of the pandemic.”

The obvious question that arises from these facts is why the regime would want to ignore and censor the critical information they were being told. Surely you would think that it was in their own self-interest to deal with this outbreak. The answer ultimately boils down to the nature of China’s authoritarian leadership. 

Like all tyrannical regimes it is obsessed with maintaining the façade of invincibility. At all times the CCP must present itself as fully in control over all aspects of life. In a totalitarian state, any perceived deficiency, limitation or shortcoming undermines its claim to complete authority. Hence, if the supposed all-powerful Chinese government had openly acknowledged early on that a new undocumented disease had appeared within its borders and was rapidly spreading, they would be tacitly admitting that there was some aspect of existence that they didn’t have dominion over and the veneer of omnipotence would be threatened. Obviously, this kind of thinking is ludicrous to reasonable people, but tyranny is inherently absurd and paradoxical. It has to hide behind incoherence because if its tenets were plainly stated, it would fall apart after the most basic examination. 

An even more stark example of this power-induced delusion can be best observed in China’s neighbour, North Korea, which proudly declares that it has no cases of coronavirus, yet its leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered a new hospital to be built in the capital Pyongyang. 

There was a similar mindset evident during Chairman Mao’s rule, and specifically the “war against nature” he launched during the Great Leap Forward. During this period of mass land collectivisation, Mao ordered hundreds of irrigation projects, the mass extermination of pests and large-scale deforestation. Of course, all this did was cause catastrophic ecological damage that worsened the famine that followed as a result of the Mao’s policies. However, during this time Mao consistently spoke of how he wanted to conquer nature and bend it to his will. Even when it was blindingly apparent that these efforts were not working, the Communist party denied reality in order to save its reputation and preserve its hold on power. Millions died as a result. 

This kind of delusional thinking becomes hubris, when despite the feedback you’re getting from reality, you continue your course of action believing that sheer defiance somehow rewrites the unwelcome truth. This is what happened in the Great Leap Forward and appears to be what the contemporary CCP is attempting now. This has been underscored in recent weeks by Communist propaganda desperately trying to shift the blame onto the Americans for the initial outbreak of the virus and the reports that the Chinese government is again lying about its county’s recovery. 

For the time being, the world needs to simply focus on getting through this crisis. Diplomatic tension and feuding are counterproductive. But once the coronavirus has been controlled and hopefully eradicated with a vaccine, governments across the world should seriously reconsider their relationship with the CCP. A government that prioritises its image and power over dealing with real problems will inevitably bring about disaster at home and abroad. 

See Also:

Escaping The Coronavirus – Feb 9