As the deadly novel coronavirus spread throughout China and the world last month, it was clear that something had gone wrong.
Officials in Hubei, the province at the center of the outbreak, were blamed for downplaying -- and potentially even deliberately covering up -- the severity of the virus, ignoring evidence that it spread from person-to-person until it was too late.
Against this tale of irresponsibility there was another story being told in China, one of a competent central government which had been denied the full picture by local officials, and once it understood the true ramifications stepped in to take drastic action to stop the virus' spread.
And indeed, there was a major shift on January 20, when Chinese President Xi Jinping commented publicly for the first time on the virus, and ordered "resolute efforts" to control the outbreak. Speaking alongside Xi in Beijing a week later, World Health Organization (WHO) director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the "seriousness with which China is taking this outbreak," and thanked Beijing for its "transparency."
New revelation: Over the weekend, however, a transcript of an internal Communist Party speech appeared to throw doubt on this narrative, revealing Xi knew about and was directing the response to the virus on January 7 -- almost two weeks before he commented on it publicly.
Why this matters: The revelation raises major questions about whether it was the central government, not authorities in Hubei, who dithered on their response, allowing the virus to spread through the country and eventually the world.
It also underlines the difficulty in maintaining Xi's image -- carefully cultivated by state media -- as an almost omniscient ruler who oversees, and is aware of everything that is happening in the country. With criticism growing of the failure to contain the coronavirus, both at home and abroad, Beijing was faced with either choosing to admit that Xi was ignorant of the true nature of the crisis until almost a month into it, or that he was aware of it and involved in the response.
By choosing the latter option, however, no matter how much blame can be placed onto provincial officials for failing to "implement" Xi's instructions, the government is admitting that ultimate responsibility for the outbreak lies with the man at the center.
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