The Mining of China's Policies against COVID‐19 from Policy Targets and Policy Tools Perspectives

ABSTRACT In response to the global disaster of COVID‐19, every country has implemented various policies. China, as a developing country, has issued policies to combat COVID‐19 that could serve as a reference for future pandemic prevention and control efforts, and may offer lessons for national governance. This paper employs bibliometric methods, text mining, and network analysis to mine and characterize the evolution of China's policies against COVID‐19. Specifically, we extract policy targets and identify the policy tools from each policy, cross‐compare the policy tools used for different policy targets, and characterize their evolution during the pandemic. Our findings show that policy targets have shifted over different stages to balance epidemic prevention with economic development. We also identify several shortcomings in distribution and utilization of policy tools. To improve policy implementation, it is crucial to align policy targets with appropriate policy tools and ensure a balanced and functional approach to policy implementation.