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China protests highlight Xi's COVID policy dilemma - to walk it back or not

13 Comments
By Yew Lun Tian and Martin Quin Pollard

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Xi needs his own, personal, COVID lockdown for at least 100 days, like he has imposed on others.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

While members of factions competing with the faction led by Chairman Xi are not represented in the CCP senior leadership, they still exist in the party and exert influence on lower level party members. Mr. Xi has to worry they could unite against him if he alienates enough people.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

While some protesters chanted "Down with Xi Jinping, Down with Chinese Communist Party", most other people only concerned themselves with resisting a lockdown of their residential compounds or exemption from frequent tests for the virus.

"Once these self-interests are met, most people will be appeased and will move on," said Chen Daoyin, a former associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, now a commentator based in Chile.

It strikes me that this senior professor is blithely unaware of the seething anger within China. While the zero covid policy is the proximate cause of the recent protests, many other unaddressed grievances exist within China. Zero covid is just the final straw. If these demonstrations persist I think those other grievances will come to the fore.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The Chinese have always been very good at avoiding annoying Government rules, one way and another, but Covid Zero, controlled with apps and hordes of hazmat-suited goons, is a whole new ball game. They must have realised that they are close to living a life on the edge of Xinjiang-style imprisonment.

Xi may well just repeat Tiananmen and slaughter any opposition. The protestors are brave people, but as in HK, may make themselves easy targets. Keep the masks on and don't get captured by the goons with the big sticks. If you want to knock lumps out of a regime, do it quietly, individually, wherever and whenever you can.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I think there are two reasons: 1) CCP has realized that how convenient it is to control people through lockdowns in the name of covid. They have tasted the blood. Now they are finding it difficult to get away from that addiction. 2) They don't have real vaccines. Although Moderna/Pfizer are not panacea but Sinovac/Sinopharm is a joke. And CCP knows it. But can't admit it publicly. They need people to believe in that joke in the name of patriotism.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Is this brutal zero covid strategy hiding the possibly that the virus has mutated, the vaccines have become less effective?

Is there the likhold of a more lethal variant?

WHO, where are you?

There has to be a logical reason for these ever more aggressive lockdowns?

Especially with the vaccines/data available.

The Government of China needs give WHO full access

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Is this brutal zero covid strategy hiding the possibly that the virus has mutated, the vaccines have become less effective?

Since the vaccines that have been extremely successful at reducing the risk of the disease are not used in China (with limited exceptions) this is not a rational argument.

Is there the likhold of a more lethal variant?

What is much more likely is that the CCP found the best possible example to put their foot on the population, no need to imagine hidden strains of the virus when the obvious motives are enough.

The lack of vaccination and the persistance on the use of inefficient, counterproductive lockdowns only appear irrational if you assume the purpose is to protect the public health, if you instead assume the purpose is to have the population under complete control then it all falls into place.

The Government of China needs give WHO full access

The WHO, the world need to have full access (for many other reasons, not a supposedly more lethal variant) but the government of China don't have any real need to allow this, in fact it has worked for more than a decade to make full access impossible, with the help of many of the countries that now bitterly complain why this is the case.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The rare street protests that erupted in cities across China over the weekend were a referendum against President Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy and the strongest public defiance during his political career, China analysts said.

Nothing so unusual--we saw protests in Australia because of lockdowns. Lockdowns which were saving lives but then the government caved in and had no other plan and we saw infeciotn rates and covid related deaths soar, and the economy went into a tumble.

Since the vaccines that have been extremely successful at reducing the risk of the disease are not used in China (with limited exceptions) this is not a rational argument.

It's a global medical health professional consensus that the vaccines have not been "extremely successful".

What is much more likely is that the CCP found the best possible example to put their foot on the population, no need to imagine hidden strains of the virus when the obvious motives are enough.

The motive is obvious--to prevent the millions of deaths as seen in the US, Europe, and other countries. And so at that, China's strategy has been extremely successful according to the global health professional's consensus.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The motive is obvious--to prevent the millions of deaths as seen in the US, Europe, and other countries. And so at that, China's strategy has been extremely successful according to the global health professional's consensus.

China knowingly undercounts its Covid deaths. If someone with a pre-existing condition in the US or other western nations contracts Covid-19 and dies, the death is rightfully attributed to Covid-19. In China if someone with pre-existing conditions, which is most of us older than 45 or so, contracts Covid-19 and subsequently dies of it, the death is attributed to one of the pre-existing conditions, not to Covid-19. In addition early in the pandemic there were mountains of dead bodies that, because their hospitals were overwhelmed, were never tested for Covid and their deaths not attributed to Covid.

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Desert TortoiseToday  02:25 am JST

China knowingly undercounts its Covid deaths. If someone with a pre-existing condition in the US or other western nations contracts Covid-19 and dies, the death is rightfully attributed to Covid-19. In China if someone with pre-existing conditions, which is most of us older than 45 or so, contracts Covid-19 and subsequently dies of it, the death is attributed to one of the pre-existing conditions, not to Covid-19.

Is that a verifiable fact?

And do other countries undercount; starting with the US:

US COVID Deaths May Be Undercounted by 36 Percent.

https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2020/us-covid-deaths-may-be-undercounted-by-36-percent/

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

The motive is obvious--to prevent the millions of deaths as seen in the US, Europe, and other countries. And

If that were the motives it would use less costly and much more efficient systems, like Sweden, which you have recognized have excellent strategies by avoiding counterproductive damaging lockdowns while still keeping the pandemic under control.

And do other countries undercount; starting with the US:

No other country is reported to undercount over 90% of the covid deaths (and hide 100% of the deaths produced by the measures) like China does.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

virusrex

I won't hide my distrust of The Government of China, however the actions and lockdowns have an extremely negative economic consequence.

I understand the virus is airborne, my Doctor mentioned this when I enquired about wearing mask etc.

So to lockdown this virus is akin to whack a mole without end.

I understand that a number of vaccines have been approved.

https://covid19.trackvaccines.org/country/china/

I believe that to be safe is to be sure.

So to insist that the Government of China puts their hand up if the possibility of further variants are in play is a valid one.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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