Based on an article in the Yomiuri Shimbun, this piece introduces an unusual essay by Yao Yang, dean of the National School of Development at Peking University, criticizing the Chinese authorities’ response to the new coronavirus. It points out how the Xi Jinping administration’s authoritarian rule has intimidated local officials and distorted both the resumption of economic activity and infection-control measures.

March 20, 2020
Yao Yang, dean of the National School of Development at Peking University in China, published an essay on Peking University’s website criticizing the Chinese authorities’ response to the new coronavirus infection.
The following is from today’s Yomiuri Shimbun.
Peking University dean criticizes the authorities
Distortions caused by authoritarian rule in coronavirus response
[Beijing = Seita Higa] Yao Yang, dean of the National School of Development at Peking University in China, published an essay on Peking University’s website criticizing the Chinese authorities’ response to the new coronavirus infection.
He expressed the view that the Xi Jinping administration’s authoritarian rule has caused distortions in local administration, and the content is unusual in China.
Mr. Yao is known for his research on the Chinese economy, and the essay was posted on the 15th.
Although the Chinese government has recently been urging various regions to resume economic activity on the grounds that domestic infections have passed their peak, it has been pointed out that movement on the ground is slow.
Mr. Yao indicated the view that local governments should be given autonomy, saying that officials are shrinking back because “if even one new infected person appears, they will be punished.”
On the 6th of this month, the top official of Wuhan City in Hubei Province, where the infection was severe, put forward education to make people feel gratitude for the Communist Party’s infection-control measures, provoking backlash from residents whose lives under lockdown had been prolonged.
Regarding this uproar, Mr. Yao referred to the administration’s dispatch of a special inspection team to uncover disciplinary violations by local officials, and criticized the administration, saying, “The feelings of those who are being inspected are painful. Their behavior becomes distorted, and they end up doing things that cannot be understood.”