The U.S. and China Should Collaborate to Conquer Pandemic

In a recent article published by the Brookings Institution, Paul Tsai China Center Senior Fellow Jamie Horsley argues that Washington and Beijing should collaborate to conquer the pandemic. By closely analyzing the timeline of Beijing’s handling of the initial outbreak, the article shows that greater initial transparency from China would not necessarily have prevented the worldwide spread of the disease.

Jamie Horsley

“The Chinese party-state did mishandle aspects of the initial outbreak,” she writes. “But based on what we now know about COVID-19’s early and asymptomatic transmission and many countries’ ineffective responses, it is not clear that greater transparency in the first weeks would have prevented its spread overseas. Given both this uncertainty and that COVID-19 is the most devastating global health and economic crisis since World War II, the United States and China should postpone a full, official reckoning of their respective handling of COVID-19 and end the blame game over the pandemic, which has been and remains a serious distraction from the essential and difficult work needed to control this terrible disease. Instead, Washington and Beijing should collaborate to conquer it and lay the groundwork for more effectively handling future outbreaks.”

Read full piece at the Brookings Institution