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Editor's note : Xu Yawen is a reporter of China Plus. This article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.
Reports like "China's Virus Censorship and Propaganda Draw Backlash" on the Wall Street Journal and "Coronavirus Weakens China's Powerful Propaganda Machine" from the New York Times will confidently tell you that China is losing its anti-virus battle – that something is wrong with its governance and media.
However, the general picture is just the opposite.
Bad figures have been going down since mid-February. Good figures are going up. Most provinces outside Hubei and most cities outside Wuhan have reported few or no infections and deaths in their daily release. No social unrest. Daily life is fine.
Governance? There are now more hospital beds than patients. One temporary hospital in Wuhan has just closed due to overcapacity. Warning alerts are being downgraded across the board. Businesses are getting back step by step. Plus, officials with outstanding performances are replacing those without.
Media? Indeed, like a cheerleading team, telling heroic deeds in hospitals and communities, while also reporting and questioning what went wrong.
What else do you expect from good governance and journalism? In times of crisis, consoling and confidence are desperately needed as a shot in the arm rather than finger pointing. Imagine you were self-isolated. What might encourage you to stay calm?
Dr. Bruce Aylward, who led a WHO inspection team to Wuhan and other cites, told Vox.com about his two "takeaways" he found while in China.
One is speed, "I think the key learning from China is speed – it's all about the speed. The faster you can find the cases, isolate the cases, and track their close contacts, the more successful you're going to be."
The other is action. "If you settle down, roll up your sleeves and begin that systematic work of case finding and contact tracing, you definitely can change the shape of the outbreak, take the heat out of it, and prevent a lot of people from getting sick and a lot of the most vulnerable from dying."
It's normal to see criticism emerging in societies, especially during an epidemic outbreak. But if such mishaps don't reflect the general picture, why are they being highlighted? Remember the ancient fable about the blind men and the elephant? The six men quarrel about the animal's overall appearance because they are only touching one part of its body and imagine it to be the whole.
But here we have more than just mistakes, they smear China by exaggerating negative incidents and turning opinions to facts. Are they being honest with facts? Partially true, but deliberately off-balance.
That's an old trick, following a stereotypical pattern – first, eye-catching headlines with words like "government censorship" or "propaganda machine." Then find complaints on social media. Finally, piece them all together. If you are a long-term subscriber of such media, now you see a China with no hope as "public cynicism running high" and Beijing facing the "biggest challenge to its legitimacy in decades." That's how the Wall Street Journal misdiagnosed China as the "Real Sick Man of Asia."
But is the situation in China going from bad to worse? Well, Morgan Stanley has just picked China, Singapore and Australia stocks as virus shelters. Are they being silly?
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