Kids addicted to gaming -> bad family relations & bad grades -> decreased productivity & unemployment -> social unrest -> people revolt against the communist party.
I'd argue the fact that CCP solves problems at the source is exactly the reason China didn't crack when people thought it would.
Because the US military is not about defending trade, arguably it's the very opposite: it is China's goal to protect global trade as it is the biggest trading partner of most countries, while the US invests heavily to maintain the ability to disrupt trade of any country it thinks is benefiting too much. (e.g. the first island chain for blocking China's access to the seas - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_island_chain)
Google doesn't give me any result if I search "武汉 肺炎" (Wuhan Pneumonia) prior to December 30. December 30 was definitively the first time it appeared on the news, and when it did, it quickly became the top news in about a week.
Why would media in China be publishing articles including that term before December 30; and what does not seeing those articles say about the parent post?
Do you think Chinese politicians are superhuman who know things before anyone report on them?
Xi Jinping had no problem locking down cities after he learned the severity of it. It's ludicrous to think he knew it in December but somehow decided it was a good idea to wait till it spread to the whole country to do it.
- He had no problems locking down cities after the severity became known. Is fairly Reasonable to think that in the beginning they thought it was something they could keep quiet and it would go away
- people in China don’t report things that might be negative for fear of consequences, he is creating a situation where he doesn’t get to know things before it’s too late this way
I mean, surely given how embarrassing it has been for PRC, I wouldn't expect 新華 to be excited to publish it for the public and the world to see. And yes, in China especially I expect the party to know about bad news, particularly bad news generated at state institutions, before the media is permitted to report on it, and I expect that reporting to be partial if it ever comes.
In fact, I am suspicious of anyone who knows anything about this and claims otherwise.
We have a real-world experiment going on right now - East Asia vs. the West. The result is clear despite other variables like population density being very much in the west's favor.
> We have a real-world experiment going on right now - East Asia vs. the West.
I agree this is a very good argument.
I just wonder if it's the end of the story and if the differences we observe can only be attributed to mask wearing. For instance I don't think all Asian countries have the same policies regarding masks though. Also, there may be other factors at play, e.g. cultural and geographical elements.
Western countries most likely still aren't testing mild patients.
SK and China went for full containment: every single positive case is hospitalized and close contacts are quarantined in hotels so few cases are missed.
While in New York, hospitals are focused on saving critical patients. If you test positive but have mild symptoms, you are usually let home anyway so it doesn't really make sense to test most people who would be taken very seriously in Asia.
However, the latest cluster in Heilongjiang involved an asymptomatic student returned from USA, completed 14 day quarantine, tested negative before and after, but still went on to infect her family and neighbors who infected more at the hospital. Total confirmed cases in this cluster is ~50 right now.
Most of the spread in this case happened because of negligence in the hospital thinking coronavirus is eradicated there so they didn’t take precautions. Coastal cities like Shanghai are taking good measures so there hasn’t been a problem despite it being where most international flights land and basically 100% back to work for over a month now. The biggest danger is people becoming tired of wearing masks and avoiding gatherings over time.
China reported 36 new cases yesterday, all but one are people returning from overseas caught under quarantine, and whenever there is sporadic local transmission, they tighten control in that area obviously while the country at large has returned to work.
Thousands already died in Italy over the last several days with less than 20,000 cases (most of those cases are still active so thousands more will die in the coming days before the lockdown even shows effect, if it is effective). You're looking at millions dead if a significant portion of the population is infected.
