10 Leaders The EconomistMarch 21st 2020
1T
he flowof information is essential to curbing a pandemic.
Yet on March 17th China took a dramatic step towards throt-
tling it. Xi Jinping’s government ordered American journalists
for theNew York Times, theWashington Postand theWall Street
Journalto leave the country, in the biggest expulsion of Western
correspondents from China since the Communist takeover in- The world sorely needs objective reporting on the place
with the longest experience of fighting covid-19. China, too,
lacks objective reporting about the virus or any other sensitive
topic. At times like this people need masks, not muzzles.
The expulsion is part of an ongoing feud between America
and China. For a moment in January it seemed as if tempers were
cooling, when both sides wisely agreed to suspend their trade
war. In recent weeks the temperature has
reached boiling-point. In a stunning failure of
diplomacy, American and Chinese officials have
been trading insinuations, all but blaming each
other for covid-19. A few Chinese diplomats and
American lawmakers have shared preposterous
conspiracy theories about the virus having been
cooked up in biowarfare labs. Enough, already.
The two powers are behaving more and more
like cold-war rivals, tussling in every domain (see China sec-
tion). President Donald Trump’s administration made cgtn
America, a state-owned broadcaster, register last year as a “for-
eign agent” and in February designated it and four other state-
media outlets as foreign missions, a declaration that their staff
are propagandists, not journalists. This is a foolish battleground
for a democracy to pick. It cannot out-censor an authoritarian re-
gime. Inevitably, a tit-for-tat cycle has ensued. Last month China
expelled three correspondents of theWall Street Journal, citing a
single offensive headline. Mr Trump then booted out 60 staff
from Chinese state-owned media. Now China has shut out many
of the finest reporters on its territory.
One alarming implication concerns Hong Kong. The expelled
Americans have been told they cannot work there either. This
upends a convention that has largely prevailed under Chinese
rule that foreign correspondents are free to work in the territory
even if barred from the mainland. China has, in effect, scrapped
an important feature of its “one country, two systems” policy.
But the most alarming consequences are global. There was a
time, more than a decade ago, when some Americans talked opti-
mistically about a possible “g2” partnership. They believed that
America and China, for all their differences, could tackle the
world’s challenges together. That now seems laughable.
Americans have cause to be irked by China’s behaviour. West-
ern media there are suffering ever tighter restrictions. Chinese
officials have become blunter in their warnings: carry on report-
ing like that on Xinjiang’s gulag for Muslims, or
on the finances of powerful families, and your
visa may not be renewed. But when America ex-
pels Chinese media workers, it does not make
things better. On the contrary, it gives China a
pretext to treat American reporters as if they
represent America—which they do not.
Mr Trump may shrug. He never cared much
for press freedom. Like many Chinese officials,
he dismisses unwelcome reporting as “fake news”. To him, jour-
nalists are collateral damage in a struggle with China that is
about something bigger: ensuring that America retains its pre-
eminence. This zero-sum approach further poisons a sour rela-
tionship. It also makes it harder to grapple with global problems.
During the financial crisis of 2007-09, China and America did
manage to talk to each other about how to save the world from
economic ruin. Their ability to co-ordinate was a huge help. To-
day’s disaster requires their co-operation all the more. Instead,
both countries are treating covid-19 as a trial of strength between
competing political systems. That augurs badly for global efforts
to fight the pandemic—and for the world that will emerge when
the virus has eventually been tamed. 7Stop deporting reporters
America cannot and should not compete with China when it comes to expelling journalistsFree speechG
uyana is minuscule. Its population of 780,000 is roughly
that of Seattle. But it has recently struck oil. ExxonMobil,
which holds the biggest share of the licence to the first produc-
tive offshore block, reckons that 8bn barrels can be pumped out
of it. That puts Guyana’s reserves among the world’s top 20.
Petrodollars could soon transform Guyana from South America’s
third-poorest country into one of the richest.
The power to begin spending that bonanza was at stake in the
general election held on March 2nd, the first since oil started
flowing. The weeks since have been chaotic. No overall result has
been declared. The opposition and outside observers suspectthat the president, David Granger, lost his bid for re-election. He
may be plotting to have himself sworn in for a second term re-
gardless. The danger to democracy is obvious. A government that
lacks legitimacy would be more likely to squander Guyana’s
newfound oil wealth.
Its politics is set up to fail its citizens. Party divisions follow
ethnic ones. Mr Granger’s A Partnership for National Unity rep-
resents mainly Afro-Guyanese, who are 30% of the population.
The opposition People’s Progressive Party (ppp) defends princi-
pally the interests of the Indo-Guyanese, 40% of the total. The
rift is made worse by an electoral system that makes members ofPetro power struggle
If Guyana’s election is stolen, its oil windfall will surely be squanderedGuyana