According to Western media, China can’t do anything right. First it was doing too little to address COVID, then it was doing too much and needed to reopen, and now it’s wrong to open up as it is. But if you look at things objectively, and take off the Western-colored glasses, is all the criticism really warranted? While the rest of the world rushed to fully reopen, it took three years to study and trace the virus, build medical infrastructure, train workers, and wait until a much less deadly strain emerged before the inevitable reopening. It also gained immense experience in future pandemic management.

To understand how and why China’s policies toward COVID evolved, in an attempt to protect a country of 1.4 billion people, Rania Khalek was joined by Tings Chak, a researcher at the Tricontinental Institute and a member of Dongsheng news collective who has lived in China throughout these last three years.

Article discussed in this episode: https://mronline.org/2023/01/01/a-look-back-on-three-years-of-chinas-anti-covid-19-fight/

Past Dispatches episode with Tings on China’s poverty alleviation: https://youtu.be/ZuBCr_15BIk 

Listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches anywhere you get podcasts.

Apple: https://apple.co/3zeYpeW
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3za9DRK