What might COVID-19 mean for, and reveal about, China's place in the world? The coronavirus pandemic started in Wuhan, home to the leading lab studying the SARS virus and bats. Was that pure coincidence? This book explores what we know, and still don't know, about the origins of COVID-19, and how it was handled in China. We may never get all the answers, but much is already clear: China's record as the origin of earlier pandemics, and its struggle to bring contagious diseases under control; its history as both a victim of biological warfare and a developer of deadly bioweapons. When Covid broke out, Wuhan was building science parks to realise Beijing's ambitions in biotech research. Whoever achieves global leadership of the gene-editing industry stands to harvest great power and wealth. China has already challenged Western technological supremacy with 5G and in other industries. Yet this tiny, invisible virus has cruelly exposed a critical flaw in the Chinese political system: obsessive secrecy. The West wanted to trust the PRC, hoping that, as it prospered, it would become an open society. Made in China reveals how Beijing's leaders have betrayed that trust.

About the Author

Jasper Becker lived in and reported from Beijing for eighteen years, including as bureau chief for the South China Morning Post. A Mandarin-speaker, he has written on China for The Guardian, The Economist and The Spectator. He is the author of ten books including the acclaimed Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine.

Reviews

'Mr. Becker [...] provides useful context about the complicated history of U.S.-China relations. [Made in China] brings to the surface what is often a subtext in these debates about virus research: the spectre of biological warfare.'

-- The Wall Street Journal



Book Information
ISBN 9781787384675
Author Jasper Becker
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Publisher C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd