Beijing is starting to resemble other Chinese cities grappling with the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus. For the capital, the political stakes are high as the ruling Communist Party prepares to hold a crucial national congress.
Despite the toll on the economy and everyday life, the zero-COVID approach is extolled by the Communist Party as a virtuous display of self-sacrifice under the slogan “Persistence is victory.” Officials frequently point out China’s relatively low death toll and have accused the U.S. and other countries of essentially giving up.
Shanghai reported 52 more deaths on Thursday, bringing the toll to 337 in its ongoing outbreak. Liang Wannian, the head of China’s COVID-19 expert team, told the briefing there have been signs of improvement in Shanghai, but the situation remains serious. The city recorded about 15,000 cases on Thursday, accounting for the vast majority nationwide.
“Even if Xi Jinping himself is untouchable, a widespread sense of failure and disappointment is bad for a congress year,” said Joseph Torigian, a Chinese politics expert at American University in Washington, D.C. What remains unclear is whether the highly contagious variant will breach Beijing’s defenses, and whether containment measures will be enforced in a way that minimizes disruption to daily life and the work of government and businesses.
The cautionary tale for Beijing is Shanghai, China’s largest city, where millions of residents have been under a lockdown for more than three weeks. Food has run low at times and heavy-handed enforcement and a lack of preparation have prompted heavy criticism, despite government efforts to censor it.
Liang said the short-term pain would be exchanged for long-term returns to normal production, life and economic development. “I think this is cost-effective and is also a kind of balance,” Liang said.“Inconvenience to people’s life or economic impact is the pain we have to suffer and a price we have to pay,” Yu said. “But if we fail to prevent the spread of the virus, we will suffer heavier losses with larger and broader social and economic impact.
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