1. This is an interesting question, and one that people should go back and take a look. Let me tell you what I remember (I was in Beijing through SARS).
2. My recollection is that during SARS, China kept WHO out for a long time. And when WHO did show up, they allegedly put SARS patients in ambulances and drove them around Beijing until they were gone, to hide the total number.
3. Eventually, I recall, China realized it had a situation way beyond its control and called WHO in. That's when the case numbers shot up overnight. But it was really existing cases finally being acknowledged. By that time, the peak had actually passed.
4. One takeaway should have been for WHO to be a lot more skeptical and tough in dealing with China. But they may have taken away the opposite lesson: they may have been afraid that if they "antagonized" China, they would be denied access entirely.
5. That doesn't justify WHO's deferential attitude to China - if that was the concern, they really went overboard fawning on them. It also doesn't justify WHO basically snubbing Taiwan.
6. But there is a history here between WHO and China - in addition to issue of a powerful patron state exerting influence - that is worth examining in any after-action review of COVID-19.
7. The novel "World War Z" already portrayed this reality: China is a difficult "client" for any global disease control organization to work with. But if you're concerned about China as an origin point for infectious diseases, you have to try. What's the best way?
8. The notion that the US is going to set up an alternate WHO that's going to exclude China is inherently flawed. It simply can't perform its mission if it can't work with China - as problematic as that may be.
9. I don't think people realize that, as bad as China's initial handling of COVID-19 was, it was WAY better than its handling of SARS. And I suspect that's one reason why WHO rationalized treating China with kid gloves, even when it knew it wasn't getting the full picture.
10. The difference is that COVID-19 turned out to be WAY more infectious, so that wasn't good enough.
