Editor’s note for June 23, 2023
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
Dear reader,
It’s been a busy summer for leaders and diplomats all over the world, with a variety of meetings and visits in Beijing, Berlin, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.
Many of the discussions that did not involve Chinese officials did involve China — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the U.S. is perhaps the most significant example. Despite the authoritarian tilt of Modi’s government, India is being celebrated in the U.S. as a friend, with the phrase “the world’s biggest democracy meets the world’s oldest democracy” rolling effortlessly off the tongues of the Biden administration’s spin doctors.
One subject that does not seem to be in any of the discussions is COVID-19. Perhaps the world is just tired of thinking about it. This seems irresponsible.
If there are any governments that are making plans for dealing with the next pandemic, they are being very quiet about it. And we are no closer to a scientific consensus on the origins of the disease than we were two years ago.
Which is why I was delighted to speak to John Sudworth, who was until recently a China correspondent for the BBC, about his new podcast on the hunt for the origin of COVID-19. Scroll down for a summary or click through to read a transcript of our conversation.
Our Phrase of the Week is: Magnificent and spectacular or energetic and spirited (轰轰烈烈 hōnghōng lièliè), which is how one observer described a teenage Lionel Messi fan who ran onto a soccer field in Beijing last week to embrace his idol who was playing in an Argentina-Australia friendly match.
If you like our Phrase of the Week by Andrew Methven, join him for a one hour course on three 20th century Chinese writers that will dramatically up your Mandarin skills, and help you understand the latest language trends in China.
