China's COVID-19 response and the virus's origins, with Deborah Seligsohn
Sinica Podcast
Kaiser Kuo
4.8 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2021
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Deborah Seligsohn, who served as the State Department’s Environment, Science, Technology and Health Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 2003 to 2007. She is now an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University in Philadelphia, where she currently teaches a course on pandemics and politics. She recalls her firsthand experience with China’s SARS response in 2003, shares her views on how much China improved in the intervening years, and talks about how, when, and why China mishandled its initial response to the novel coronavirus in the winter of 2019–2020. Deborah also offers her critical perspective on the persistent “lab-leak” theory.
This show was recorded on March 12, with an addendum recorded on March 29, in which Deborah addresses some of the news relating to the search for COVID’s origins that came out in the intervening weeks.
6:50: Understanding the origins of COVID-19
34:16: Chinese scientists’ unwillingness to share data
43:54: The World Health Organization’s handling of the virus
54:36: The lab-leak theory
Recommendations:
Deborah: Coronation, by Ai Weiwei, and the podcast In The Bubble: From The Frontlines.
Kaiser: The rise of made-in-China diplomacy, Peter Hessler’s latest piece in The New Yorker.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Audible brings your wildest adventures to life, delivering heart-pounding thrills at the touch |
| 0:05.8 | of a button. |
| 0:07.0 | Take Richard Osmond's The Thursday Murder Club, where four retirees turned amateur sleuths |
| 0:11.8 | solve crimes in the most unexpected ways, brilliantly performed by Leslie Manville. |
| 0:17.1 | Ready to unleash your adventure aside, from pulse racing suspense to epic quests, from supernatural |
| 0:22.6 | chills to far-off romances, every story comes alive through world-class narration. |
| 0:28.5 | Explore exclusive audible originals, chart-topping new releases, and unforgettable bestsellers |
| 0:34.4 | that transport you from the very first word, because the next great |
| 0:38.2 | adventure is just a listener way. |
| 0:40.8 | Start your free 30-day trial at audible.com slash Wondery UK. |
| 0:45.7 | That's audible.com slash Wondery UK. Welcome to the Cynical podcast. |
| 1:00.6 | We discussed current affairs in China produced in partnership with SUPChina. |
| 1:04.3 | SubChina is the best way to keep on top of all the news out of China, especially if you |
| 1:08.3 | subscribe to our daily email newsletter, SubChina Access, or check |
| 1:12.9 | out SubChina.com for all the original reported stories, op-eds, great regular columns, and |
| 1:18.2 | our growing range of videos and podcasts. |
| 1:21.3 | It's a feast of business, political, and cultural news about a nation that is reshaping the |
| 1:26.2 | world. |
| 1:27.2 | I am Kaiser Guo. I am coming to |
| 1:28.8 | you from my home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A year ago on March 11th, the World Health |
| 1:35.0 | Organization officially declared that COVID-19 had reached pandemic proportions. While we've seen |
| 1:40.7 | scientists manage some truly impressive feats, including the very fast sequencing of the SARS-CoVed genome, the rapid development of tests, and perhaps most impressively, the development in record time of multiple highly effective vaccines, including really cutting-edge MRNA vaccines, we've also seen, alas, over 2.6 million people succumb to the disease worldwide |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Kaiser Kuo, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Kaiser Kuo and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.