38 China The EconomistMarch 21st 2020
2 Street Journalreporters, ostensibly as pun-
ishment for a headline in the newspaper
calling China the “real sick man of Asia”.
America then imposed a cap of 100 on Chi-
nese nationals working for those five me-
dia: Xinhua, cgtn, China Daily, China Ra-
dio International and the distribution arm
of People’s Daily. That meant, in effect, the
expulsion of 60 people.
China’s response will have a far bigger
impact on journalism, stripping the for-
eign press corps in China of many of its
best correspondents. It will also worry
many people in Hong Kong, where anger
over Chinese interference has triggered
frequent protests in recent months. China
says the expelled reporters are barred from
working there too. This scraps a conven-
tion under Chinese rule that foreign re-
porters, even if shut out of the mainland,
can still work in Hong Kong. The central
government has, in effect, made it clear
that its rules for managing foreign journal-
ists will take precedence over Hong Kong’s
far freer system.
In recent years Chinese officials have
been confrontational with many Western
countries, but more cautious with Ameri-
ca. That era may be over. The harshness of
China’s retaliation suggests that its leaders
are becoming more willing to risk open
hostility with the United States.
China’s insinuations over the origin of
covid-19 are a sign of this change. For weeks
fanciful theories had been circulating on-
line in China and in Chinese media that the
coronavirus was an American bioweapon,
produced by the ciaor the usArmy and re-
leased in Wuhan in October, when the city
hosted the Military World Games. On
March 12th Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for
China’s foreign ministry, stepped in on
Twitter, where he now has more than
400,000 followers. “It might be usarmy
who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” he
tweeted. “Be transparent! Make public your
data! usowe us an explanation!” Other Chi-
nese diplomats have joined in spreading
the rumour. Some American officials have
also floated a baseless idea that covid-19
emerged from a research lab in Wuhan.
Mr Trump said China’s conspiracy the-
ory was one reason why he would keep call-
ing sars-cov-2 the “Chinese virus”. He dis-
missed a reporter’s suggestion that this
might be racist. But his language seems
likely to stoke racism, including among his
own staff. On March 17th a Chinese-born
American television reporter tweeted that
a White House official had called the virus
“Kung Flu” to her face.
For now the swapping of insults may
appear infantile. But as the epidemic wors-
ens, so too will the scapegoating. If far larg-
er numbers die, perceptions in China and
America of who is to blame will have pro-
found consequences for a relationship that
is already looking scarily frayed. 7I
n early marchAlina Wang, a Chinese
citizen studying in Sydney, decided it
would be best to go back to her native coun-
try. She felt that China was doing a good job
curtailing the spread of covid-19. In Austra-
lia she had worries, including that few peo-
ple wore masks when out and about. Now
Ms Wang is in a hotel near her family’s
home in a north-eastern Chinese province.
She is serving out the last few days of a two-
week quarantine that local officials said
new arrivals must undergo. Fortunately
her room has good Wi-Fi. She is keeping
busy with coursework.
As infections dwindle in China and soar
elsewhere, many Chinese citizens living
abroad are wondering whether it would be
safer to return. The pull is strongest for the
1.5m Chinese studying in foreign universi-
ties, many of which have suspended face-
to-face classes. They are often urged to re-
turn by family members, who fear that for-
eign countries do not have the gumption or
the power to enforce the kind of sweeping
restrictions that China has used to fight the
new coronavirus. On March 15th Global
Times, a Beijing tabloid, said the less-dra-
conian measures adopted by Britain and
the Netherlands were “irresponsible and
harmful to the world”.
Long ago China was reluctant to allow
its citizens to travel the world freely. Now
its doors are open and the numbers living
abroad have soared. China sees them as a
source of soft power and of knowledge thatcan help the country’s rise. In recent years
it has been trying to boost their loyalty to
the motherland by standing up for their in-
terests. It says that since the outbreak be-
gan it has repatriated 1,000 nationals who
had become stranded in hard-hit coun-
tries. But now it is starting to worry.
Officials say that making sure people
entering China do not bring the virus with
them has become a priority. All 34 new
cases of covid-19 that were detected in the
country on March 18th involved someone
who had recently entered from abroad.
Most of those people are believed to be Chi-
nese citizens.
Netizens have been expressing anxiety
about this on social media. They have raged
against a handful of people who have con-
cealed symptoms when entering the coun-
try or disregarded requests that they self-
quarantine for two weeks after they arrive.
This anger relates to a common complaint
in China, that those with money and con-
nections are often able to skirt rules. Only a
small fraction of Chinese are rich enough
to study abroad.
Officials appear keen to stem the return
flow, especially to Beijing (protecting the
capital is always considered vital). On
March 16th it was announced that most
people who enter the city from a foreign
country would have to do two weeks of
quarantine in a designated hotel and pay
$30-$80 a night for it. Two days later a city
official advised Chinese students not to re-
turn unless they had to.
Many Chinese students abroad say
there are good reasons to stay put. Going
home before graduation could make it
harder to find jobs overseas. Some worry
that they could catch the virus in transit, or
that returning would cause hassle for their
parents. On balance, Ms Wang thinks she
made the right decision. She says being
home is a great relief. 7BEIJING
China worries that travellers will bring
the virus back from abroadImported infectionsA frosty welcome
Should I stay or should I go?