2002年的兩岸SARS危機管理、運作與績效主要受其政經體制之影響。在危機處理方面，臺灣民主政體固然有訊息開放的優勢，但是欠缺危機處理機制，執行效率、宣導管理與資源整合效率不彰，是導致危機惡化的重要成因。中國大陸威權體制下，隱瞞疫情，遲延危機處理達數月之久，則是釀致SARS災難的主因。在危機溝通方面，SARS危機初期兩岸表現皆不佳，直至後期，公開、專業與具信賴感的衛生部門成員與政府領導人參與，才發揮較好之溝通效果。在危機善後方面，兩岸雖積極防範，也提高危機意識，但仍不乏若干疏失與漏洞有待彌補。兩岸如何在此次SARS危機中汲取教訓，以規避風險，應是值得深思與反省的課題。

The management of the SARS crisis in 2003 was a test case for the quality of the political and economic institutions on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, that is, the ROC and the PRC. Both governments lacked crisis prevention mechanisms including the sense of a pounding danger that was threatening the health of millions people. This is so in particular in China, whose colossal political bureaucracy equipped with underdeveloped institutions lost the early and thus the best opportunity to overcome the SARS outbreak. By comparison, the SARS situation in Taiwan, despite press freedom and political pluralism enjoyed by the community, worsened rapidly everyday due to the administration's inexperience in crisis management and the political infighting within the government and between the political parties, which naturally led to administrative inefficiency, poor communication among key organizations, and resource misallocation. Under the authoritarian system in China, the SARS situation was put under control after a quite long time; and in both the mainland and Taiwan, the government could work effectively in fighting the SARS only when a few capable senior officers and qualified doctors were appointed replacing the poorly performed incumbents. The management of the SARS outbreak teaches a costly lesson that both governments must update their institutions and capabilities if they do not want to fail again in the future when new societal crises emerge.