Arrogance Prevents West from Learning from Asia

In a column for the Berlin news daily, Der Tagesspiegel, Juergen Gerhards, Professor of International Relations at Free University Berlin, points out that western countries like Germany have been far less successful against the pandemic than Asian ones. If one compares Germany to South Korea, it is striking that the latter reported only 1,500 deaths caused by the Covid virus, whereas Germany reported 60,000. South Korea’s GDP also dropped only 1 percent in 2020, Germany’s by 5 percent. The difference is big, even if one takes into account that South Korea has a population of 52 million, whereas Germany has one of 83 million. Also, the Asian populations are generally younger than the European ones, but South Korea took decisive measures, for instance, to track down infections and the spread of the virus at a time when in Europe there were still discussions about whether such an “interference” into private life could ever be accepted.