Zack and Alex talk about the politics of the coronavirus outbreak in China — why the Chinese government botched the initial response, why Chinese citizens are so angry about it, and the reasons why the problems with this response are inherent to the current Chinese governance model. They then debate the claim from many analysts that this is the most serious crisis for China’s regime since the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising — and the (low) probability that this could trigger another revolution-minded uprising.

References:

Our colleague Julia Belluz has you covered on the coronavirus. Read her work here, here, and here.

Read the nice things Chinese people have said about the late Li Wenliang after his death.

Here’s the full clip of Bill Bishop speaking on coronavirus’ impact on China.

Zack read an academic paper on the show on “symbolic legitimacy” and China. 

This piece in the Guardian titled “If China valued free speech, there would be no coronavirus crisis” is worth your time.

Hosts:

Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), senior correspondent, Vox

Alex Ward (@AlexWardVox), national security reporter, Vox

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Today, Explained, Vox’s daily news podcast to help you understand the news, hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

About Vox:

Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines.

Follow Us:

Vox.com 

Newsletter: Vox Sentences 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices