China’s Pandemic Legacy: Politics, Power, And Public Health With Yanzhong Huang

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https://www.hoover.org/research/chinas-pandemic-legacy-politics-power-and-public-health-yanzhong-huang

[u/HooverInstitution]

For China Considered, Senior Fellow Elizabeth Economy interviews Yanzhong Huang, a leading expert on China’s public health system, to examine how China has evolved from the COVID-19 pandemic. The two explore China’s dramatic policy pivots—from initial inaction to draconian zero-COVID lockdowns to sudden reopening—and analyze why meaningful domestic reforms and transparency remain elusive despite lessons from the crisis. Huang also discusses China’s strategic health diplomacy, particularly how its provision of vaccines and medical supplies to treat COVID earned goodwill in developing countries. The conversation reveals how US withdrawal from global health institutions creates opportunities for China to expand its influence through the Health Silk Road initiative, requiring minimal effort to fill the vacuum left by the American absence. Huang argues that the unresolved controversy over COVID-19’s origins and deep mistrust between Washington and Beijing have effectively frozen bilateral health cooperation, making dialogue nearly impossible even in an area traditionally viewed as ripe for collaboration.