Top 20 Task List | Respect for science and professionalism should keep the alarm bells ringing

At the beginning of the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, President Xi Jinping admitted in a meeting that the new crown pneumonia epidemic is a major public health emergency that has occurred with the fastest spread, the widest range of infections, and the most difficult prevention and control since the founding of the People's Republic of China. A big test of the national governance system and governance capacity.

When the epidemic enters its third year, the test of the epidemic is far more than that, but comprehensive and comprehensive, both political, economic, and social and psychological.

In all tests, big and small, a key issue that runs through the epidemic prevention is to talk about science and professionalism.

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As early as February 3, 2020, at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee chaired by Xi Jinping, he specifically mentioned the importance of "scientific prevention and control", because epidemic prevention and control is a systematic project that requires scientific prevention and control. , Scientific governance, scientific management.

This fully shows that in the face of unexplained pneumonia at the beginning, there is a consensus on the cognitive level to talk about science and professionalism.

"Maintaining stability and overturning science" is costly

But when it comes to action, there has been a practice of "maintaining stability over everything" and even overriding science.

People should still remember the "Li Wenliang Incident". On December 30, 2019, eight doctors, including Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist from Wuhan Central Hospital, issued a warning in a WeChat classmate group, but they were called "rumor makers" by the local police. Although he was rectified and rehabilitated afterwards, the professionalism represented by Li Wenliang obviously took a back seat to the bureaucracy of "maintaining stability and stability". It is not difficult to see that people use Li Wenliang's Weibo as a "waiting wall" to express their grief.

February 7, 2021 is the first anniversary of the death of doctor Li Wenliang.

The picture shows Chinese students and their supporters hold a memorial service for whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang outside UCLA Westwood on February 15, 2020.

(Getty)

In addition to the "Li Wenliang Incident", the change in Shanghai's epidemic prevention and control model has also become a realistic example of public opinion controversy about politics and science.

Before March 27, Shanghai, which is a model student of epidemic prevention, has always stated that it will not take measures to close the city, will not be one-size-fits-all, and will continue the precise epidemic prevention model of "catching mice in a porcelain store".

But as soon as the words fell, Shanghai immediately started the semi-closed city measures of "cutting-type, grid-based nucleic acid screening", and then further upgraded to a two-month silence state, which has a negative impact on China's overall economic situation and the general public. Mass psychology has had a huge impact.

During the period of Shanghai's anti-epidemic process, people were constantly irritated, especially after the recording of a leader of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention was exposed, "No one listens to what professionals say, and now this disease has become political. It is a disease that has reignited people's concerns about the overriding of science over politics.

In addition to the above two iconic incidents, many negative cases of disregarding scientific prevention and control requirements have also been exposed throughout China during the epidemic prevention process.

For example, in the last round of the epidemic, Suzhou City, Anhui proposed the goal of "resolving the social dimension within three days", and stated that "the villages (communities) that have not been cleared after the three rounds of inspections will be protected against cadres and village party organizations. The person in charge should be held accountable seriously." Such a "three-day clearing" requirement and accountability system not only violates the nature of epidemic prevention as a scientific issue, but also "encourages" excessive epidemic prevention in disguise and overweights at every level.

The same practice of limiting the time limit for clearing also occurred in Guiyang. In the early morning of September 18, a rollover accident of a transfer isolation vehicle occurred there, resulting in 27 deaths.

While public-level concerns about politics over science have not subsided, signals from top-level meetings have added to the concerns.

On May 5, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a meeting, which mentioned that it is necessary to have a profound, complete and comprehensive understanding of the guidelines and policies for epidemic prevention and control determined by the Party Central Committee, resolutely overcome problems such as insufficient understanding, insufficient preparation, and insufficient work, and resolutely overcome contempt. , indifferent, self-righteous and other thoughts, always keep a clear head, unswervingly adhere to the general policy of "dynamic clearing", and resolutely fight against all words and deeds that distort, doubt, and deny my country's epidemic prevention policies and policies.

Blindly muting the sound only fuels anxiety

On July 28, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made it clearer that "it is necessary to efficiently coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. The relationship between epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development must be viewed comprehensively, systematically, and in the long run, especially in the long run. We have to look at it from a political point of view and make a political account.”

Although many countries around the world have opened their doors, China has always adhered to the epidemic prevention policy of "dynamic clearing".

(AP Photo/Andy Wong)

After the mobilization order to "resolutely fight against all words and deeds that distort, doubt, and deny my country's anti-epidemic policies and policies" was issued, many personal accounts who spoke out against the epidemic were banned, including Liang Jianzhang, the founder of Ctrip Group, who frequently spoke out against the epidemic, and criticized Shanghai. Tong Zhiwei, a professor at the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, who caused the disaster of the rule of law due to epidemic prevention.

In addition, the English article "On China's Reopening Strategy in the Coming Era of COVID-19" published by Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and another researcher on April 6 in the National Science Review, Reopening is needed to normalize socio-economic development and adapt to the global reopening. In the long run, a long-term dynamic reset is impossible.” and was silenced by the entire network.

It has to be said that such practices will only increase the social level's imagination of the battle over the epidemic prevention line, and will also reinforce the concern that the emphasis on politics will overwhelm the emphasis on science.

Politics and professions must interact positively

Fang Ning, former director of the Institute of Political Science of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who has twice served as a collective study lecturer for the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from Hong Kong 01, "To respond to a public health incident, to respond to a social crisis, or to manage from crisis There are always two dimensions when looking at this kind of issue from the perspective of the people, and there is tension between the two dimensions. One is the so-called political consideration, which is often said to focus on politics and the overall situation, and public health emergencies belong to the public. The highest standard for dealing with public affairs is safety and stability. This responsibility is borne by the government, so the power and responsibility cannot be completely handed over to experts, and the government cannot intervene. This is impossible, and it cannot be said that government intervention is wrong. Yes. But why is there a debate now? This involves another question, what is the basis and basis for the government's disposal?"

Fang Ning went on to explain, "The government's daily management is supported by rules and experience, and it can act step by step. But viruses and epidemics are unknown emergencies, which leads to a tension, that is, in the face of unknown emergencies, Does the government make decisions based on past rules and experience, or does it need to listen to professional opinions? How to deal with the relationship between politics and professionalism? In China, "talking about politics", after all, is not for the health of the people and social stability? The so-called "professional" is essentially the same. But the question is what if the professional opinion is inconsistent with the government's opinion? This time I encountered this problem. If a decisive measure is taken under the condition of unclear judgment, it may be an own goal and give Society has caused unwarranted disasters. This is where the government's concerns lie."

On August 5, 2021, at the football field of Haikou Meilan Airport, medical staff conduct nucleic acid testing and sampling for the new coronavirus.

(People's Vision)

When talking about the tension between politics and professionalism, Qin Qianhong, a professor at the Law School of Wuhan University, said, "Since it is tension, on the one hand, it shows that there is a tension, and on the other hand, this tension may also be in some sense. The rationality of the CCP exists, so it is difficult to say that it will be eliminated. Especially under the current political order in China, the Communist Party, as a leading party, has to exist for a long time, and Chinese people rarely doubt this. You can not join the Communist Party or criticize the Communist Party. However, the vast majority of people are not able to accept that China does not need the Communist Party. In order to maintain the smooth guidance and implementation of policies, and for the stability of the political order, the Communist Party will naturally have certain requirements for political unanimity or political loyalty. It does not mean that it is only about politics, or that it cannot be understood as overwhelming professionalism.”

"Actually, the Chinese Communist Party's politics is a combination of being popular and professional. You must not understand the profession. Politics if you don't understand the profession is pseudo-politics. Being responsible to the party, the country and the people must mean political loyalty. If you are professionally strong, otherwise you will be asked to prevent and control the epidemic. If you can't prevent it, you will be asked to have an operation. If you can't do it well, you don't know how to get an injection. What's the use of such political loyalty? A teacher, you talk about loyalty, but you don't Teaching a class, you will not cultivate morality, this kind of loyalty is also a kind of pseudo-loyalty, so under the current political order in China, there must be a benign interaction between politics and professionalism, which is the most appropriate.”

Under China's current political system, it is unrealistic not to talk about politics, but it must also change with time and events, and cannot help but overwhelm everything, especially science and professionalism at the juncture of the epidemic crisis.

Mao Zedong said in "On Contradiction", "If there are many contradictions in any process, one of them must be the main one, playing a leading and decisive role, while the others are in a secondary and submissive position. Therefore, research on In any process, if it is a complex process with two or more contradictions, we must use all our strength to find the main contradiction. Once the main contradiction is grasped, all problems will be solved.”

What was the main contradiction in the early stage of the epidemic?

It is how to protect the people's right to know to the greatest extent, and remind people to take precautions as soon as possible to prevent more people from being infected or even losing their lives.

Talking about politics instead of major contradictions is not only the root cause of public grievances in the early stage, but also the source of the "Li Wenliang Incident" and the "remembering documents" and completing the task of filling out forms on the front line of the fight against the epidemic.

During the epidemic prevention and control process, many formal and bureaucratic problems have been exposed across China.

(file picture)

Empowering scientific decision-making in the disease control system

After the lessons learned in the early stage of the epidemic, it is necessary to give professionalism more space and authority on major disease prevention issues. The most important thing is to give the CDC the real power to release information to the outside world.

You must know that the network direct reporting system rebuilt after SARS has ensured the sharing of information among CDC personnel across the country, but in fact it has never been able to solve the problem of timely release of surveillance information.

According to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, when an infectious disease breaks out or becomes popular, the health administrative department of the State Council is responsible for releasing information on the epidemic situation of the infectious disease to the public.

The implication is that the CDC, which is affiliated to the National Health Commission, is only responsible for monitoring, and has no real power to release information, let alone decision-making power.

Zeng Guang, the chief scientist of the epidemic prevention and control of China's disease control, admitted in an interview with mainland media that China's disease control system only has the "power to work" and can collect and analyze data, but it is not a decision-making body, and its status in the health and health commission system is absolutely absolute. It is weak, and the disease control situation can only be discussed if the government authorizes you to talk about it.

The CDC is still mainly doing technical work, and it only has the right to make suggestions on epidemic prevention work, but not to make decisions.

Yang Gonghuan, the former deputy director of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also revealed that the plague broke out in Northeast China in the 1910s.

It is indeed difficult for China to do this now. The health system officials under command may not know much, and the personnel of the disease control system have no administrative power, so this involves a very critical issue of system reform.

Experts can express their opinions, but they are not a substitute for government releases.

In view of the lessons learned this time, Yang Gonghuan suggested that the emergency response function of epidemic prevention should be included in the administrative department of disease control, so that professionals can increase their voice, so as to change the current situation of laymen commanding experts.

Historically, in the Mao Zedong era, China had the historical tragedy of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution due to the overriding of science by politics. It was not until Deng Xiaoping started reform and opening up that he returned to the common sense of respecting science and intellectuals.

Taking history as a mirror and the problems exposed in the process of epidemic prevention as a lesson, respect for science and professionalism must keep the alarm bells ringing. This is not only the key to the modernization of the governance system and governance capacity, but also the problems and challenges that must be faced in the next five years.

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