China’s president Xi Jinping has staked his political standing and reputation on zero-Covid for almost three years.
He has praised the hardline policy for “putting people and their lives first” and touted its success as evidence of the supremacy of China’s authoritarian system, branding himself as the “commander-in-chief” of a “people’s war” against the virus.
Xi has since become silent as his expensive policy is abruptly abandoned in the wake of widespread opposition. David testing stations, health code scanning signs, and lockdown barriers are being taken down quickly all around the nation.
Authorities have abandoned virus-tracking software and stopped reporting asymptomatic illnesses, which made up most of the nation’s reported cases as viruses spread rapidly. As cities reduce the use of mass testing and pealloweople to employ antigen tests to isolate at home, the remaining claims have also lost all significance.
While the loosening of constraining regulations is a long-overdue release for many who have grown weary of the adverse economic and social effects of zero-Covid, its abruptness and haphazardness have alarmed, bewildered, or worried citizens.
The general populace is now instructed to be “the first responsible person for your health” — or, in essence, to fend for themselves — after having their daily lives controlled by Covid regulations imposed by the state and dread of the virus-induced propaganda throughout the pandemic.
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State-run media and health authorities have shifted from warning about the virus’s dangers to downplaying their concern. Top Covid-19 expert and prominent public spokesperson Zhong Nanshan proposed on Thursday that Omicron should be dubbed “coronavirus cold” due to its similar fatality rate to seasonal flu and restricted lung infection.
Antigen testing and over-the-counter medications are in short supply at pharmacies and online retailers in Beijing due to citizens’ impulsive purchases of these items. People stay at home to recuperate from Covid or to prevent getting the disease, leaving streets and commercial cecentersractically deserted.
The rest of the country is anticipated to follow, if not already in the thick of, the extraordinary coronavirus epidemic that has gripped the Chinese capital.
It is remarkable how little the administration has planned for such a significant departure from the strategy, given its fixation on maintaining control. The nation hasn’t prepared enough, including raising the elderly immunization rate, expanding hospital capacity for emergency and critical care, and storing antiviral drugs.
The party’s propaganda machine is already portraying a China advancing “from success to fresh victory” even as foreign experts warn of a grim winter ahead, with some research estimating over a million Covid fatalities.
On Thursday, a front-page column in the People’s Daily, the party’s official newspaper, delivered a favorable assessment of the nation’s three-year campaign against Covid. The verdict: Xi’s strategy has always been “absolutely correct.”
Another reason Xi Jinping gave up his Zero-Covid policy: China's economy is in trouble and millions young people lost their jobs…this is not good for his regime. pic.twitter.com/NbJyVctsNT
— Songpinganq (@songpinganq) December 16, 2022
“The reality has amply demonstrated our pandemic policy’s accuracy, science, and effectiveness. It has the people’s support and can withstand the test of time,” according to the 11,000-word piece, which referenced Shanghai’s traumatic two-month lockdown as a noteworthy accomplishment.
The statement read, “After three years of work, we have the circumstances, processes, teams, and medicine to lay the groundwork for an overall triumph in the battle against the pandemic.”
According to the official story, the party, and hence its supreme leader Xi, is infallible. Parts of the public will never forget their lived experience during zero-Covid, including the frustration of being confined to home for weeks or even months on end, the desperation of losing jobs and income, and the heartbreak of witnessing loved ones being denied emergency medical care because of strict lockdowns.
Regardless of how much the party tries to rewrite history and manipulate the collective memory of the Chinese people, some of the public will never forget their lived experience during zero-Covid. Some people’s faith in the government has been permanently damaged.
Dali Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, remarked, “Going back decades, society in China has suffered a lot of scars.” “Generational scars are numerous, and there have been many of them. And this is one of them in some ways,” he remarked, referring to the anguish caused by zero-Covid.
Chinese officials, medical professionals, and state media have justified the quick withdrawal as being in line with science by pointing to the Omicron variant’s lower lethality.
However, Omicron first surfaced almost a year ago, and experts claim that instead of immunizing the elderly or expanding ICU capacity during the past few months, the government has wasted a lot of time and resources on mass testing and constructing temporary quarantine facilities.
Why, therefore, did (the government) decide to back off and open up in the winter? Why didn’t it succeed in the spring or summer instead? The Party Congress in October was mentioned in a Weibo comment, along with the question, “Why did it have to wait until after the big meeting?”
Some people who have not personally experienced the impact as much—or believe the effects to be a worthwhile sacrifice—still favor zero-Covid and fear having the virus. They have placed the blame for the limitations being lifted on those who advocated for their reopening, including the protestors who walked to the streets to make their case, rather than investigating why the administration had not made appropriate preparations before abruptly lifting the limits.
China cranks up propaganda defending #XiJinping as Covid cases explode
With Covid-19 running rampant after Xi Jinping’s govt swiftly abandoned its zero-tolerance policy, the Communist Party is still insisting its strategy will “stand the test of history.”https://t.co/n99LD2eC7Y
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) December 15, 2022
Some observers think Beijing needed a political off-ramp to get out of zero-Covid, and the protests gave it a good reason to do so – even though it couldn’t publicly admit the protests happened to the Chinese people. Some demonstrators demanded the party and Xi’s resignation and an end to Covid lockdowns in an unprecedented show of political rebellion against the nation’s most potent and autocratic leader in decades.
Unsurprisingly, a top-ranking Chinese ambassador has said that foreign adversaries are igniting a “color revolution” and “seizing the chance for politicization.”
Lu Yashi, China’s ambassador to France, told French journalists at an embassy event last week: “Initially, people took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with how local governments were unable to fully and accurately implement measures introduced by the central government, but foreign forces quickly exploited the protests.”
The party’s go-to response to widespread discontent is to blame regional governments and foreign powers. But because he has concentrated unheard-of authority in his own hands, Xi naturally bears personal responsibility for the party’s policies and how they are carried out. And since he is so tightly linked to zero-Covid, he is also responsible for any possible consequences of its abrupt termination.
For the time being, Xi has persisted in his silence, as he frequently does in tumultuous situations like the early days of the Wuhan breakout and the agonizing weeks of the Shanghai lockdown.
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The Council of Foreign Relations analyst Huang claimed that Xi appeared to be momentarily separating himself from the zero-Covid U-turn.
Xi flew to Saudi Arabia on December 7, the day the government announced a significant retreat from his zero-Covid strategy, for a state visit and regional summits.
Perhaps he wants to avoid pointing the finger. Huang said that if the abrupt reopening results in mass fatalities, he doesn’t want to become too involved.
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