[Asie du Sud-Est] What’s Behind Mainland Southeast Asia’s Surprising Success Against COVID-19

Auteur : Joshua Kurlantzick. Senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is the author, most recently, of A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA. 

Production : Council on Foreign Relations. Fondé en 1921, Council on Foreign Relations est un think tank non partisan américain ayant pour but d’analyser la politique étrangère des États-Unis et la situation politique mondiale.

Diffusion : site de Council on Foreign Relations.

Date : 11 août 2020.

With the exception of Thailand, the five countries of mainland Southeast Asia are some of the poorest in the Asia-Pacific region. According to the World Bank, Cambodia has a per capita GDP of around $1,600, while Myanmar’s is roughly $1,400. Laos and Vietnam fare only marginally better, each at around $2,500. Their political systems run the gamut from semi-democracies to authoritarian one-party states. Yet despite some initial missteps, they have all largely suppressed COVID-19, proving far more effective in addressing the pandemic than most developed countries, including the United States.

Source : Joshua Kurlantzick, “What’s Behind Mainland Southeast Asia’s Surprising Success Against COVID-19”, Council on Foreign Relations, 11/08/2020. URL : https://www.cfr.org/article/whats-behind-mainland-southeast-asias-surprising-success-against-covid-19 (consulté le 17/08/2020).

Photographie “à la une” : Students wearing face masks and face shields sit as they attend a flag-raising ceremony as schools nationwide reopened, in Pathum Thani province, Thailand on July 1, 2020. © Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters