[baryphonic]

The first cases of what we now call COVID-19 were identified at the end of November 2019. By mid-December, medical professionals in Wuhan were aware of the virus. The government did not begin the massive lockdowns till mid-January. This was partly a result of the regional party's incompetence (as is mentioned in the article), and partly a result of pressure from Beijing to ensure that lunar new year celebrations went on without a hitch. (My personal mental model for China is that the state wishes to portray the country as Disney World while actually running it like an ultra-dysfunctional Jurassic Park.) Dr Li Wenliang was even harassed by police and made to sign a confession for "disrupting the peace" by daring to tell the truth about the illness on the Internet; for his trouble, he himself succumbed to the disease.

The mass mobilization was a show meant to distract the Chinese people and the world from the fact that this crisis was actively covered up and allowed to fester for 40 days for purely political reasons.

So, no, I don't think this proves anything about the "superiority" of the Chinese model. South Korea has a very different model, and they have had a much better response. Even the US response hasn't been too bad. And the US and other countries have been actively harmed by the Chinese cover-ups and censorship of information, along with the concomitant spread of disinformation.

I place the blame for this becoming a pandemic firmly at the hands of the Chinese Communist government at every layer.