Hey Summer, thanks for reaching out about this. I think it is without a doubt that the system China inherited is really good as some things, and really bad at others - this being one of them.

To clarify, I do agree with you that China's response exemplifies what's good about China's model of governance.

So in a funny way, China is bad causing its own problems, but good when cleaning it up. On the other hand, the West (with notable exceptions like NZ) has been bad at both.

I hope that clarifies that I don't mean that China is responsible for everything else. They may have knocked over the candle that started a fire in their own village, but other villages failed to fight the spread of the fire.