Vietnam 'most outstanding' in handling of Covid-19: Control Risks report

Singapore

HAVING learnt at least some lessons from the Sars crisis of 2003, at least five Asian economies apart from China have flattened their corona-virus infection curves.

Vietnam, however, has been lauded as the most outstanding for its toned-down authoritarianism and targeted resourcing, a report from Control Risks said.

The report's author Steve Wilford, an Asia-Pacific partner at Control Risks, cited South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong as the four "most obvious members" of a club he dubbed as the "learners".

These are jurisdictions that are "uniquely Asian", wealthy and have learnt lessons from the Sars crisis 17 years ago, he said.

"I would also bestow this honour on Vietnam which has managed to achieve similar results to its far wealthier neighbours using a clever mix of toned-down Chinese authoritarianism…