Aclao, Bejie Paulo T.

POL207- Government and Politics of Developed Countries

PL3A Instr. Franz Jude Abelgas

China and Covid-19

Comparative Politics Approach

Introduction

The SARS-CoV-2 or Coronavirus 2019 is an epidemic in China that is transmitted rapidly in the

world and it becomes a global pandemic. The epicenter of Covid-19 is in Wuhan, China. When

the group of patients that have severe leukemia died, the government of China responded

immediately and take care of all the necessary actions to stop the highly communicable disease

from spreading. China successfully contained the spreading of Covid-19 within its borders. This

paper will try to answer the following questions:

1.) Why did the Covid-19 has originated from China and not from the other part of the world?

2.) And why did Chinese government actions to Covid-19 are more effective than the

Philippines?

Body

It is known to the world that the Corona virus is from China. Maybe you are wondering why of

all places, the corona virus pop-up from a country which has the highest number of populations

in the world. As of 2019, China has 1,394,015,977 population (U.S. Census Bureau Current

Population) making it the most populated country globally. The biggest indirect factor that

contributes to the corona virus in China is its over population. The people of China are

multiplying rapidly every day, but their resources are not growing, but instead it is diminishing.

They need to fulfill their stomach by any means, including eating of different kinds of animals.
You may ask, is the population of China has really something to do with the virus? Canada and

India have a large population too but the virus didn’t originated from there. Yes, it is indeed true

that those countries are big and have a lot of population, but the people of India are not lacking in

resources and they are not eating animals because they believe that animals are sacred and

therefore it must be worshipped and not be eaten. As for Canada, although, they are lacking in

natural resources it is not yet to the point where they need to kill different wild and exotic

animals in order for them to survive. China has an extreme case of over population and because

of it, their food are lacking, the ecosystem is being destroyed by mining companies (mining.com)

and therefore it becomes normal for them to hunt and consume exotic animals as their additional

source of food. The Coronavirus 2019 is believed to be originated from a bat disease and it was

transmitted to human that causes the virus. (Cohut 2020). The China has the highest number of

population in the world and their land are being occupied rapidly. Due to over population

Chinese are migrating around the world. All countries have Chinese residents or tourists. This is

the reason why the virus immediately spread all over the globe.

China has experienced the SARS and Mers virus around 2002, they’ve got numerous cases and

deaths. They already have actual knowledge and experience regarding a virus or epidemic that is

the reason why they have a strengthen epidemic response or a law dedicated to epidemic

outbreaks. On the other hand, the Philippines manage to prevent the SARS virus in 2002. Which

means that we have a little actual knowledge or experience when it comes to epidemic and we

have no epidemic response law that is dedicated to epidemic outbreaks. When the virus outbreak

occurred in Wuhan, the Chinese government implemented a total lockdown on Wuhan city and

15 other cities affecting a total of 70 million residents (AlTakarli 2020). All kinds of

transportation, land, water and sky are all banned from travelling. Because China has a
strengthen epidemic response created, the reporting system, isolation facilities and budget for

epidemic are all well prepared and having a total lockdown was easily implemented for 3

months. Due to the fact, that we don’t have an epidemic response law here in the Philippines, we

then struggle to response accurately when the virus entered the Philippines. The World Health

Organization congratulated the Philippines in mid of April this year because the Philippines

conducted an enhanced community quarantine that resulted on smaller number of cases

compared to the other countries in Southeast Asia around May of 2020. After 2 months, the

Philippines lifted the ECQ and the number of positive cases surged. It is due to lack of resources

and financial capability of the government and of the people. Why? We need to lift up the ECQ

to regulate our falling economy because we are not prepared in the pandemic. The difference of

China and Philippines when it comes to solving the problem of covid-19 is the lack of planning.

If the Philippine government has already a dedicated law for epidemic outbreaks, meaning, we

have prepared facilities, funds and accurate actions, the result will be on the positive side.

Recommendation

All countries should have a law specifically for epidemic and pandemic outbreaks.

Conclusion

The biggest factor on why the covid-19 originated from China is because of its over population

and lack of resources or food that resulted in destruction of ecosystem that created diseases in

animals which is transmitted to humans through digestion and becomes the deadliest virus of all

time. Unlike China, Philippines doesn’t have a dedicated law and thorough preparation for

epidemic outbreaks that is why we struggle to contain the virus.

China is one of the largest countries in the world and the largest in east Asia. China also

has the highest population. China is the epicenter of the Coronavirus-2019 but one of the early

countries to contain the virus. China’s actions regarding the Covid-19 made an impact to the rest

of the world, especially, the Philippines. Let us see what kind of international relation’s approach

the China is doing

China, despite being the epicenter of the virus is one of the early countries to recover

from the covid-19. Billions of people are residing in the country but only 80,000 plus people got

infected (worldometers.info, 2020). This phenomenon gave China an opportunity to demonstrate

its kindness in neighboring countries, particularly the Philippines. Philippines copied the steps

that China did during the virus breakout in Wuhan because it is effective, this makes the China as

a role model for the Philippines. Last May 2020, the Philippines add 1.2 billion dollars loan to a

Chinese Bank called Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (Vera 2020). Although, it will help

the country in fighting the virus that came from China, it also means that the Philippines will

have another debt to China. There is a term that is famous for the kindness of China in its

neighboring countries, the “debt trap diplomacy”. What it does is after a country fail to pay the

loan, China will pressure the country to support its geostrategic interests. China is one of the

leading countries that have many potential vaccine under their laboratories, next to US. A lot of

countries are partnering with other countries to solve the pandemic in the world. US has partner

with European countries for the vaccine. China is developing its own vaccine and swears that

everyone will have access to it. The two super countries are rushing the manufacturing of the

first complete vaccine but they never considered working together to have faster result. This
proves that the actions that the China is taking starting from being friendly to Philippines despite

the fact that they have issue in west Philippines Sea. The Philippine government has already fall

in the debt trap diplomacy of China. It further amplifies when the Covid-19 arrives because the

China demonstrate its kindness and friendliness in the Philippines by giving free test kits, PPE

and debt which the Philippines openly hugged and receive. This will apply the dependency

theory of development. Philippines will think that due to the big debt and “utang na loob”

concept in China, we can never pay them back unless we let them do whatever they want in the

West Philippine Sea.

Therefore, I conclude that this only shows that what China is doing is really for its self-

interest and power. Expanding its influence by turning enemy into allies and grabbing the trust of

other countries as what we are seeing in this Covid-19 pandemic. China approach to international

relations is realism, power and influence is what truly matters today.

Sources:

Comparative approach

Worldometer.info

Basov, V. (2015). China is Burning Through its Natural Resources, Mining.com

https://www.mining.com/china-burning-natural-resources/#:~:text=China%20is%20the

%20world's%20top,hunt%20for%20mining%20deals%20globally.

Cohut, M. (2020). Novel Corona Virus Your Question: Answered, MedicalNewsToday.com

Cynaroski, D. (2020). What China’s coronavirus response can teach the rest of the world.
Nature.com
Dubai Medical Journal (2020). China’s Response to Covid-19 Outbreaks. Karger.com
World Health Organization (2020). A cluster of COVID-19 in Beijing, People’s Republic of
China. Who.int
Vera, B. (2020). PH adds $1.25B in loans to war chest vs COVID-19, business.inquirer.net