China - winning the pandemic... for now: the People's Republic is exuding strength, but can they keep it up?

Abstract

Is it not ironic that the Coronavirus pandemic, which arguably began in a Wuhan ani­mal market in late 2019, has accelerated China's rise? Indeed, early interim assess­ments show that Beijing's draconian, sometimes inhumane, disease control measures have proven highly successful. China's containment of Covid-19 domestically has enabled a return to normality and laid the foundation for a strong economic up­swing. Party and state leaders are using these achievements for political advancement at home and abroad. China's effective crisis management - epidemiological, economic, and politi­cal - reveal that the country is winning this crisis in the end of 2020. Nonetheless, the sustainability of these economic and political successes is debatable. (author's abstract)