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Opinion
Coronavirus exposes fundamental flaws in China’s economic growth model, and Beijing cannot fix it
- The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, which has killed over 1,000 people and infected over 40,000, has highlighted the good and bad sides of a state-controlled system
- China was able to build a hospital in a few days, but only after the outbreak of the virus had been under reported or even covered up
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Zhang Lin is deputy director and chief macroeconomic researcher at the Far East Credit Rating research institute.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, which has killed over 1,000 people and infected over 40,000, has exposed fundamental flaws in China’s governance system and its growth model – the excessive concentration of power, information and resources in the hands of a powerful state.
But given the path of China's political and economic evolution, it is difficult for China to loosen its grip on power as a response to so-called black swan events such as the coronavirus. The most likely outcome is that Beijing will continue to strengthen centralised control, which in turn is a greater threat to China’s prospects than the virus itself.
When it is done right, a centralised political system means the government can deliver positives such as rapid economic growth, but it also make it possible for the government to place emphasis on the wrong things, which has the potential to lead to uncertainty and even disaster for society.
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