"Xi Jinping Issued COVID-19 Response Order in Early January"... Why Did China Delay Disclosure?

"Hubei Province Stabilizes, Nationwide Stabilization Possible"
"Need to Address Shortages in Daily Supplies as Well as Disease Prevention"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Chinese President Xi Jinping is reported to have instructed responses related to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) earlier than initially known. Although the official mention was on the 20th of last month, the initial response order was from the 7th of last month.

According to Chinese state media on the 15th, the contents of President Xi's instructions regarding COVID-19 response were disclosed at the Central Political Bureau Standing Committee meeting on the 3rd. According to this, President Xi instructed the response earlier than initially known, on the 7th of last month.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The New York Times (NYT) analyzed that although the Wuhan city leadership stated in early last month that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission, at least President Xi must have been aware of the issue. However, specific instructions from President Xi were not disclosed. The NYT analyzed that China's disclosure of such matters was to inform that President Xi is making efforts to fight COVID-19.

Among the disclosed remarks of President Xi, he said, "Since the beginning of the year until now, the issue I am most concerned about is the prevention and control of COVID-19," and mentioned, "If Hubei Province calms down, the entire China can calm down."

He continued, "While focusing on disease prevention and control, we must maintain stability in production and daily life," and stated, "We must avoid a secondary 'disaster' caused by public panic due to the increase in confirmed cases and shortages of daily necessities."

Regarding information disclosure, he instructed, "Information must be released in a comprehensive and dense manner," and "We must increase timeliness, targeting, and professionalism to build public trust and stabilize public sentiment."

He also pointed out problems in the response of local Chinese governments. President Xi criticized, "During the disease response process, some localities showed formalism and bureaucracy," and "Some officials are idling and not deeply engaging in frontline epidemic prevention work."

President Xi had previously acknowledged shortcomings in the government response. At the 12th meeting of the Central Committee for Deepening Overall Reform, he said, "We must summarize experiences and learn lessons, thoroughly address the shortcomings and deficiencies revealed by COVID-19, supplement the weaknesses, and strengthen the vulnerabilities."