Editor’s note for Thursday, October 8, 2020

My thoughts today:

If you’re wondering about the subject line of this email, it’s from The Plague, by Albert Camus.

Blame China! The Trump administration’s absurd defense of its ineffective response to COVID-19 was on full display in last night’s vice presidential debate (see today’s top story for details).

But Beijing makes it easy for its critics. Today’s example: The World Health Organization is still “waiting for Beijing to approve the make-up of an international team to be sent to China to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic,” reports the South China Morning Post.

“A list of candidates has been submitted to the Chinese authorities for their consideration and for next steps in order to deploy that team,” WHO health emergencies programme executive director Mike Ryan said.  

Why the delay? What is Beijing still hiding?

On another subject: “We need a new approach to teaching modern Chinese history: we have lazily repeated false narratives for too long” is the title of a new essay and book review by historian James Millward. It’s thoughtful, honest, and well worth reading for anyone who thinks about the uses, misuses, and abuses of the history of the place we call China.

Our word of the day is plague, and also the Chinese title of Albert Camus’s novel The Plague: 鼠疫 shǔyì.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief