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China: Community Policing, High-Tech Surveillance, and Authoritarian Durability

This chapter discusses China’s emergency responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. China’s emergency responses reflected a mixture of mass mobilization of political, economic, and social resources, as in war times. However, China’s initial mishandling of the Covid-19 outbreak, primarily at local levels, damaged the world’s trust. China sought world leadership through global propaganda campaigns and “mask diplomacy.” The chapter then investigates China’s legal and social prevention and control mechanisms, most notably community policing and surveillance technology. It also considers serious challenges that emerged in the early stages of the pandemic. China faced numerous challenges to its governance and state capacities, in resuming its economy, getting people employed, and ensuring people’s livelihood in an international context where the US–China relationship is fraught with tension.