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US media outlets now recognize China's zero-COVID policy. Is it too late for them? --- By Global Times Feb 17, 2022
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252520.shtml
親曆北京冬奧抗疫，美媒對中國“清零”的調子變了……好意外
丁悅 2022-02-17 16:21:38 觀察者網
（觀察者網訊）“中國的‘清零’政策給其他國家上了一課。”
自從新冠肺炎疫情發生以來，西方媒體多次攻擊中國的“動態清零”政策，抹黑中國抗疫成就。近期隨著北京冬奧的舉辦，處於閉環內的外媒記者得以親身體驗中國是如何防疫的，對中國“清零”政策報道調子也發生變化。
《紐約時報》記者此前親身驗證“中國真清零了”，令在美國的同事大為震驚，彭博社也談起了“清零”的好處，《華爾街日報》更是指出，中國之所以能有效應對疫情，是因為人民信任政府以及人民相互信任。
2月16日，《華爾街日報》首席經濟評論員葉偉平（Greg Ip）撰文指出，中國“清零”政策，從內部來看效果顯著，實現了低死亡率和盡可能少的經濟中斷。比起所謂“民主製度”，真正發揮作用的是信任。人民越信任政府或彼此信任，一個國家就越能有效地應對疫情。
China's 'Zero-Covid' policy holds lessons for other countries
《華爾街日報》報道：中國的“清零”政策給其他國家上了一課
文章開頭便指出了西方對中國“清零”政策的種種懷疑，如懷疑這一政策是否能夠長期維持，稱隨著新的、更具傳染性的變異毒株不斷出現，“清零”政策的維持成本也會變高。
但文章同時指出，這一政策已經在中國持續下去了，並且從中國內部來看，效果顯著。從冬奧會來看，所有境外來華參賽人員直接進入名為“泡泡”的閉環管理係統，從而保證了城市其他區域居民正常生活，商店、博物館、辦公室正在營業，地鐵和道路交通與2019年的時候保持一致。美國人現在才開始擺脫新冠，但大多數中國人早在2020年就開始這樣做了。
文章稱，西方人對中國充滿不信任，很難冷靜地評估中國的新冠政策，地緣政治的緊張局勢往往會模糊“清零”政策的成就及其對其他國家的教育意義。側重金融、商業領域的《華爾街日報》格外關注“清零”對中國的經濟影響，它直言，盡管“清零”政策並非沒有成本，中國的消費者支出受到封鎖和旅行限製的打擊，但“清零”政策幫助中國實現了低死亡率和盡可能少的經濟中斷，這也是兩年前每個國家追求的。盡管受到了疫情打擊，但中國2021年的GDP與疫情前預測的大致相同。
雖然文章依舊對“清零”政策的可持續性提出質疑，堅稱“不可能無限期維持‘清零’政策”，但文章同時稱，值得研究的是，中國如何在這麽長時間內維持零疫情。中國投入了巨大的資源，最重要的是檢測能力，一個人口不足500萬的城市能夠在2天內對每位居民進行PCR新冠檢測，一個超過500萬人口的城市可以在3天內完成全市檢測。“巨大的資源和地方合作使中國能夠抑製感染，並且對生活的幹擾小於疫情肆虐的其他國家。”而與之相對的，在奧密克戎浪潮期間，許多美國人都無法進行檢測。
文章指出，在名為“動態清零”的更有針對性的方法下，限製通常隻覆蓋一個地區、一個社區或一座建築物。“一些地方在短期內承受了嚴厲的限製和中斷，因此大部分地區都可以不受限製。這種平衡到目前為止得到了相當一部分民眾支持，”駐北京的龍洲經訊分析師崔爾南說。
根據金融服務公司高盛製定的限製和流動性指數，去年中國的生活受到的疫情影響遠小於其他國家 。在其他國家，疫情浪潮已經損害了企業，關閉了學校，同時在疾病和死亡方麵產生了巨大的、無法量化的成本。但中國贏得了時間推出疫苗、療法和醫療設施以減輕影響。因此，普通中國人支持並願意與清零政策合作，因為他們看到了這一政策的好處。
“在這場大流行中，我們發現民主與成效之間沒有任何關係”，美國外交關係委員會全球衛生項目主任托馬斯·博利基（Thomas Bollyky）說，比起所謂民主製度，醫學期刊《柳葉刀》發表的一項研究發現，抗疫中真正發揮作用的其實是信任。
醫學期刊《柳葉刀》發文：感染率和死亡率分析，以及177個國家的防備相關因素
研究發現，人民越信任政府或彼此信任，一個國家就越能有效地應對疫情。信任政府的人民更有可能遵守社交距離、追蹤密切接觸者以及口罩和疫苗的規定。在缺乏信任的地方，人民不太可能遵守，政府也不太可能提出要求。而人民之間相互信任可以鼓勵人民做保護他人的事情，並相信其他人也會這樣做。
根據世界價值觀調查，中國對政府的信任度很高，而在美國則很低。文章總結稱，這就是中國抗疫成功的教育意義，相較中國，美國的民主製度需要更好地運作。
China's 'Zero-Covid' Policy Holds Lessons for Other Nations
Enormous resources, local cooperation enable China to suppress infections with less disruption to life than in countries where pandemic still rages
China's 'Zero-Covid' Policy Creates New Supply-Chain Worries
China's 'Zero-Covid, Policy Creates New Supply-Chain Worries
To keep out Covid-19, China closed some border gates late last year, leaving produce to rot in trucks. Restrictions like these and rules at some Chinese ports, the gateways for goods headed to the world, could cascade into delays in the global supply chain. Photo composite: Emily Siu
By Feb. 16, 2022 2:45 pm ET
Ever since China adopted its policy of stamping out every Covid-19 infection, outsiders have wondered whether it could last. With each new, more infectious variant, “zero Covid” has required more vigilant and frequent crackdowns on daily activity.
And yet it has lasted. And seen from inside China, the results are remarkable. Foreigners in Beijing for the Olympics may be confined to a dystopian bubble in constant fear of being quarantined. But outside the bubble, life in the city looks close to normal with stores, museums and offices operating and subway and road traffic in line with this time of year in 2019. Americans only now are moving on from the coronavirus. Most Chinese did so back in 2020.
US media outlets now recognize China’s zero-COVID policy. Is it too late for them?
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252520.shtml
By Global Times Feb 17, 2022 07:47 PM
White flags are seen on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States, on September 16, 2021. More than 660,000 white flags were installed here to honor the lives lost to COVID-19 in the United States.Photo:Xinhua
"China's 'Zero-Covid' Policy Holds Lessons for Other Nations," reads the headline of an article in The Wall Street Journal Wednesday. This surprised many people, who questioned whether this was the same media that had constantly attacked China on its COVID-19 prevention and control strategy.
Such "abnormality" can also be seen in a recent Bloomberg article, entitled "Why the World Needs China's Covid-Zero Policy," which affirms the role China's dynamic zero-COVID policy has been playing in safeguarding global supply chains.
It seems like some US media outlets, willingly or not, have finally woken up to reality. According to Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, this is because it is clear the impact of different epidemic responses in China and the US on each nation's economic and social development. Facts and results of Beijing's epidemic prevention and control policy are just too hard to deny now.
One of the examples would be how China managed to control the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus amid the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Before the event began, some Western media and elites kept hyping the theory that China's zero-COVID strategy "won't work" against the highly transmissible variant. But now that the Games are coming to an end, the situation, both inside and outside the "closed loop" management system, has slapped these people in the face.
Yet, the existence of those relatively calm voices in US media does not mean that Washington is trying to learn from Beijing's experience in COVID-19 prevention and control. This is more a way for US elites to reflect on their country's mistakes through the contrasting realities between China and the US caused by different COVID-19 strategies.
Of course, even if some in Washington want to learn from Beijing, the former cannot fully learn from the latter's experience. Li told the Global Times that this is partly due to cultural and institutional differences. For example, in contrast to individualism and decentralization in the US, China's strong top-down devotion to take action and ability to cooperate shown in the epidemic prevention and control process is something hard for others to learn.
On the other hand, the learning process will be hindered by the US' foul political environment, including polarization of domestic politics, dysfunction of the political system, and rising anti-China sentiment. Li noted that many opportunistic careerists are taking advantage of the loopholes in the US system. "US politicians now show the importance of themselves or their party through attacking their political rivals. They think more about how to use the chaos at home to increase their own power," he said.
Against such a backdrop, the public's distrust of the government has also grown. As a result, people in the US are more likely to disagree with any policy the government has developed. This has, in fact, pushed Washington into a dead end in the fight against the epidemic.
With all these barriers, the West, particularly the US, is facing a painful dilemma: To learn from China - too difficult; not to learn from China - more tragedies. Moreover, for some Western elites, learning from the Chinese experience means confirming that China has beaten the West in terms of COVID-19 strategy. This is something they do not want to admit. This is why self-reflection from US media came so late.
The novel coronavirus has killed more than 920,000 people in the US, and the number is still rising. People always say, "Better late than never." But now the question is, how much time is left for US elites to continue to reflect and make changes before the country reaches the disgraceful milestone of one million deaths?
The White House COVID-19 Response Team announced Wednesday that the US is moving toward "a time when COVID isn't a crisis." However, is the crisis really over soon? It is afraid that the crisis in US politics and society exposed during the epidemic will still linger on.
The US allows so many COVID-19 cases and deaths, while American elites very foolishly criticize China's dynamic zero ...
