Dear Editor,

When I watched what little amount of news feed was permitted to leave China in Autumn 2019 I could see TV images of some citizens being literally dragged — a few invertedly by their legs — back into their residences to help contain viral transmission.

As the months passed and COVID-19 became a rampant pandemic, I couldn’t help but notice how China’s strict handling of its own outbreak, while allowing little rights and freedoms to its people (and maybe even internal/external big businesses), likely enabled a relatively short duration of its initial crisis. But matters have gone too far with China’s current “zero COVID” policy.

Meantime, Chinese citizens have tasted and enjoyed samples of freedom’s sweetness, either through trans-Pacific travel or Western images missed by China’s internet censors. It’s potentially problematic for China’s authoritarian Government that those samples cannot be unexperienced. And with such greater liberties typically come weaker national security and vice versa.

While I wouldn’t exchange my Western freedom for such national security, it is still foolish to pretend a national security sacrifice isn’t being made in exchange.

Frank Sterle Jr

fgsjr2010@hotmail.com