China must not repeat mistake it made 3 years ago
On the last day of 2019, China first reported to the World Health Organization that an unknown case of pneumonia had emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province.
In less than a month, Korea saw its first case of "Wuhan pneumonia." The WHO officially named it "COVID-19" the following month. On Monday, the Chinese government changed the official name of the illness brought on by the virus there from "novel coronavirus pneumonia" to "novel coronavirus infection." The move indicated that COVID-19 was no longer a serious disease that causes severe pneumonia and similar symptoms.
It took nearly three years for Beijing to remove the word pneumonia from the title of the illness caused by COVID-19. That and what's happening in China now show how the authoritarian socialist superpower has handled ― or mishandled ― the pandemic.
Beijing maintains that stance even now.
According to foreign reports, 250 million Chinese have been infected over the past month, and crematoriums in Beijing are overflowing with bodies. However, the official death toll for the previous week was "two." The government has since stopped releasing related figures.
At a news briefing Wednesday, Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesperson, criticized Western countries and media for "hyping up and distorting China's COVID-19 policy adjustments." Wang urged all countries to make joint efforts to ensure safe cross-border travel, maintain the stability of global industrial supply chains, and promote economic recovery and growth. The remark came after Beijing decided to reopen its borders to travelers, inbound and outbound.
China's neighbors do not appear to be pleased with the prospect of Chinese and Hong Kong tourists flowing into their countries. Japan, Taiwan, India and the Philippines have toughened entry procedures by obligating PCR tests and negative certificates. The U.S. is reportedly considering taking similar steps. Tokyo seems most restless, restricting the airports for Chinese arrivals to four. These moves could be justified, considering that some experts say China's infections could reach 1.2 billion with a maximum death toll of 200 million.
Korea remains content with three relatively minor steps. It has lowered the standard temperature for the mandatory test to 37.3 degrees and requires testing of the companions of positive examinees while conducting whole-genome sequencing (WGS) for all Chinese arrivals to detect new variants.
However, health authorities, and political leaders for that matter, need to remember what happened three years ago. Despite increasingly ominous signs at the time, the Moon Jae-in administration postponed blocking Chinese arrivals, resulting in a surge in infections and making it difficult to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Having a big neighbor right next door has both advantages and disadvantages.
On the one hand, Korea is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the enormous Chinese market. On the other, this country is the biggest victim of China's environmental pollution, including sand dust, and infectious diseases. As the saying goes, if China sneezes, Korea catches a cold, economically and otherwise. But that should not be repeated in the handling of the pandemic in its final phase. Some travel experts estimate up to 2 million tourists from China could visit Korea in 2023.
The previous Moon Jae-in administration received an excellent report card, from both within and outside, for handling the pandemic. However, conservative critics said the pro-Chinese Moon administration made things unnecessarily complicated by being too mindful of agitating Beijing, especially in the pandemic's early phase. If so, Koreans can feel more assured under the pro-U.S. Yoon Suk-yeol government.
However, the outlook is not very bright. Above all, the Yoon government's COVID-19 performance is hardly relieving. Given the population gap of about six times between Korea and the U.S., the nation's daily new infections and COVID-19 deaths are nearly six to seven times America's.
We recently called for the lifting of the remaining indoor mask mandate. However, it was before Beijing abruptly shifted from its zero-COVID to a policy of living with the virus, yielding to public protests.
In its new quarantine regime, the government must take stringent steps for Chinese arrivals, at least as strict as those of Japan.
On the last day of 2019, China first reported to the World Health Organization that an unknown case of pneumonia had emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province.
In less than a month, Korea saw its first case of "Wuhan pneumonia." The WHO officially named it "COVID-19" the following month. On Monday, the Chinese government changed the official name of the illness brought on by the virus there from "novel coronavirus pneumonia" to "novel coronavirus infection." The move indicated that COVID-19 was no longer a serious disease that causes severe pneumonia and similar symptoms.
It took nearly three years for Beijing to remove the word pneumonia from the title of the illness caused by COVID-19. That and what's happening in China now show how the authoritarian socialist superpower has handled ― or mishandled ― the pandemic.
Beijing maintains that stance even now.
According to foreign reports, 250 million Chinese have been infected over the past month, and crematoriums in Beijing are overflowing with bodies. However, the official death toll for the previous week was "two." The government has since stopped releasing related figures.
At a news briefing Wednesday, Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesperson, criticized Western countries and media for "hyping up and distorting China's COVID-19 policy adjustments." Wang urged all countries to make joint efforts to ensure safe cross-border travel, maintain the stability of global industrial supply chains, and promote economic recovery and growth. The remark came after Beijing decided to reopen its borders to travelers, inbound and outbound.
China's neighbors do not appear to be pleased with the prospect of Chinese and Hong Kong tourists flowing into their countries. Japan, Taiwan, India and the Philippines have toughened entry procedures by obligating PCR tests and negative certificates. The U.S. is reportedly considering taking similar steps. Tokyo seems most restless, restricting the airports for Chinese arrivals to four. These moves could be justified, considering that some experts say China's infections could reach 1.2 billion with a maximum death toll of 200 million.
Korea remains content with three relatively minor steps. It has lowered the standard temperature for the mandatory test to 37.3 degrees and requires testing of the companions of positive examinees while conducting whole-genome sequencing (WGS) for all Chinese arrivals to detect new variants.
However, health authorities, and political leaders for that matter, need to remember what happened three years ago. Despite increasingly ominous signs at the time, the Moon Jae-in administration postponed blocking Chinese arrivals, resulting in a surge in infections and making it difficult to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Having a big neighbor right next door has both advantages and disadvantages.
On the one hand, Korea is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the enormous Chinese market. On the other, this country is the biggest victim of China's environmental pollution, including sand dust, and infectious diseases. As the saying goes, if China sneezes, Korea catches a cold, economically and otherwise. But that should not be repeated in the handling of the pandemic in its final phase. Some travel experts estimate up to 2 million tourists from China could visit Korea in 2023.
The previous Moon Jae-in administration received an excellent report card, from both within and outside, for handling the pandemic. However, conservative critics said the pro-Chinese Moon administration made things unnecessarily complicated by being too mindful of agitating Beijing, especially in the pandemic's early phase. If so, Koreans can feel more assured under the pro-U.S. Yoon Suk-yeol government.
However, the outlook is not very bright. Above all, the Yoon government's COVID-19 performance is hardly relieving. Given the population gap of about six times between Korea and the U.S., the nation's daily new infections and COVID-19 deaths are nearly six to seven times America's.
We recently called for the lifting of the remaining indoor mask mandate. However, it was before Beijing abruptly shifted from its zero-COVID to a policy of living with the virus, yielding to public protests.
In its new quarantine regime, the government must take stringent steps for Chinese arrivals, at least as strict as those of Japan.
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