Forum: China should focus on saving lives, not saving face

Medical staff transfer patients to the newly completed Huoshenshan temporary field Hospital in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Feb 4, 2020. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

That practically every confirmed case of the coronavirus outside of China involves a Chinese citizen or other nationals who had some contact with the country or its people merely affirms the belated admission by the Wuhan local government that it should have acted earlier to prevent a local problem from turning into a global pandemic.

Unfortunately, this harsh reality appears as only a mirage to some in Beijing, as well as the World Health Organisation.

They not only regard the restrictions and other precautionary measures that a growing number of countries, including Singapore, have imposed on all China-related travel as unnecessary, but have also gone as far as to take umbrage at these curbs.

To quote Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying in her criticism of the US travel advisory to its citizens to defer all visits to China, "this has set a bad example. It is certainly not a gesture of goodwill".

Her indignation is regrettable, considering the curbs put on domestic and outbound travel to contain the transmission of the virus across the country and the world by her own government.

Above all, few government leaders can afford to be as cavalier as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in rejecting all restrictions and exposing their citizens to a virus that has already claimed more lives in China than the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003.

The current situation does feel like a case of deja vu from 2003, when Beijing was criticised by many for its less than timely and transparent release of critical information about Sars - which also originated from China - at the outset, and which could have helped to nip an escalating virus in the bud and mitigate its casualty rate.

If Beijing does not learn to step up to the plate and inspire trust and confidence on such life and death issues, it can rest assured that the world will be even more cautious the next time an epidemic breaks out in China.

The best gesture of goodwill that the Chinese government can show to everyone, including its own people, is to focus on protecting and saving the many lives across the world that are being exposed to risk, instead of trying to save its face.

This is clearly not just a China problem.

Toh Cheng Seong

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 05, 2020, with the headline Forum: China should focus on saving lives, not saving face. Subscribe