Zero COVID Backfires

Strange things are happening in President Xi Jinping’s China. What is even more startling is the fact that the new developments are taking place only over a month after he was hailed and installed as the country’s head for a record third term, a distinction enjoyed only by Mao Zedong before him. Intriguingly, a social media post forwarded countless times when protests erupted in China against Xi’s “dynamic zero COVID” policy was a quotation from Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, a former Chinese leader, saying “the people should be allowed to speak and encouraged to care about state affairs.”

Days after the extraordinary street protests following the death of several people in a fire in a Xinjiang apartment padlocked for lockdown, people in several cities and universities across the country have voiced their resentment against China’s longest spell of lockdown in the world to tackle COVID. The uniqueness of the protests is the symbolic use of a blank sheet of paper that, in fact, speaks far more than thousands of words. The unspoken language is intended to tell the world that the people of China not only disapprove of the zero COVID policy, but they need freedom to articulate their thoughts and feelings that are being brutally suppressed by the regime headed by Xi.

The newly anointed President for an unprecedented third term and head of the Communist Party of China (CPC) appears to have been rattled by the extent of protests and their implications. This is clear from an almost knee-jerk reaction by the authorities which abruptly lifted restrictions in major cities such as Guangzhou hours after the city saw violent protests that resulted in clashes between the police and protesters.
According to a report, a community in Beijing also allowed COVID cases with mild symptoms to isolate at home. This is a far cry from protocols earlier this year which forced entire buildings and communities to be locked down, sometimes following just one positive case. Other major cities like Shanghai and Chongqing are also reported to have relaxed some rules.

Significantly, one of China’s most senior pandemic officials, Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, said the virus’ ability to cause disease was weakening. “The country is facing a new situation and new tasks in epidemic prevention and control as the pathogenicity of the Omicron virus weakens. More people are vaccinated and experience in containing the virus is accumulated,” she said. This itself is in sharp contrast to an earlier message from authorities that the country needed to maintain a strict zero COVID policy.

The question is why Xi has, all along, been insisting on his zero COVID policy refusing to relax lockdown continuing in many places for months on end and other protocols. This has been baffling the world as much as many Chinese, since people across most countries seem to have come to terms with the pandemic and are moving about without masks. Work and trade are picking up in most places to pre-pandemic levels. The spectacle of spectators at the ongoing FIFA World Cup matches enjoying the games without fear of the pandemic seems to have further fuelled anger among the Chinese populace.

There could be compelling reasons for Xi’s COVID policy which he would certainly be reluctant to disclose. Experts are saying that despite the propaganda, China is plagued by shortage of medical facilities for handling COVID cases. The Chinese vaccines being used are also believed to be not as efficacious as those developed outside. Xi is in no mood to buy vaccines from the West. These factors may have forced him not to risk relaxing the pandemic protocol since China’s poor capacity for tackling COVID may be exposed and a catastrophe may result.

In fact, China has in recent days recorded its highest number of daily COVID cases since the pandemic began – with more than 36,000 cases recorded on a single day this week.

At the same time resentment among the people in China against prolonged lockdowns is running so high that they have started openly questioning Xi’s leadership. Though the protesters are miniscule in number, the signs are ominous for Xi. Under normal circumstances he would have hit back with his characteristic ruthlessness, but now the people’s lives and daily movements are dislocated by his COVID policy. Seems like Xi has limited options open for now.