Beside strong critics for its extreme measures, some months ago China used to present itself as in the front line in combatting Covid-19, while now the situation is a lot different. Monday 26th December 2022 Covid-19 was classified as “Class B” infection, no more “Class A”, with looks at the grand reopening of 8th January 2023. Foreign Minister’s spokesperson Wang Wenbin described Chinese epidemic situation as “under control” and presented China as the country with least severe ill and dead persons.
International news report a country kneeled before a new and strong infection wave, though. Beijing started a U-turn stopping restrictions and the extensive people tracking program by tests aiming at boosting a stressed economy before the complete reopening. According to experts, as restrictions are taken back following previous months’ participated protests, infections will spread out of radar, rubbing off on millions of Chinese daily. The new daily infection record remembers citizens all over the world images of early 2020, when patients can’t find room in hospitals and crematories stop working. While the pillar of “Zero Covid” policy was the priority of vaccinating the workforce, 23,8 million Chinese older than 60 years have not vaccine yet and only 40% of over 80-years-olds have received the booster , causing significant issues. Chinese more than 60 years old have still got no vaccine and only 40% of over 80-year-old have received the booster. Moreover, the fact that Sinofarm and Sinovac are less efficient than Westerns makes the Chinese situation more alarming.
Beijing’s second move was to stop exiting daily infection reports. The latest data on Covid-19 infections and deaths given by the national government seem not to reflect the Red Dragon’s true condition: only three deaths for Covid on 27th December 2022. According to national health authorities, deaths are considered Covid-related when patients die for respiratory issues or pneumonia, but statistics suggest reopening can ignite this data to a million. Airfinity, predictive analysis institute in the medical field, estimates the possible number of daily infections is around a million, and deaths are around five thousand.
Protests in the country, growing dissent in the population and economic (and human) costs of “Zero Covid” will be a hard challenge for Chinese Communist Party’ propaganda and for Xi Jinping, who reiterated he wants to put at the center citizens and their lives. Based on this affirmation, the international community asks what the reasons were to hang on recent years’ strategy considering the high costs and the sudden reopening that doesn't appear fully organized.
“CCP's U-turn towards the pandemic after people went to the streets can only ruin Xi Jinping's aura of ever-winning he most carefully cultivated.
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- Orville Schell, direttore del centro sulle relazioni USA-Cina presso l’Asia Society di New York
Xi Jinping’s prestige for its approach was strengthened at the Communist Party meeting in October, when he swore he would keep the strict measures, increasing his personal authority. The Chinese government defended “Zero Covid” policy stating it was necessary to save citizens’ lives, contrary to failing measures in European countries, where the virus spread enormously. The worrying protests highly challenged Beijing, forcing a U-turn. Questions about the Cinese situation rapidly spread among other countries in the world, afraid of a possible new, dangerous variation of the virus, causing stricter checks requiring negative tampons from passengers coming from China. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) urged more transparency and more reports on the pandemic, hospitalizations, vaccinations and deaths, with little success.
Sources used for this article:
https://it.euronews.com/2022/12/31/covid-loms-chiede-trasparenza-e-condivisione-dei-dati-alla-cina
https://it.euronews.com/2022/12/30/voli-dalla-cina-tamponi-obbligatori
https://www.politico.eu/article/european-countries-covid-pandemic-china-ingore-pandemic-lessons/
https://www.ispionline.it/it/pubblicazione/cina-avanti-tutta-37145
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L'Autore
Riccardo Carboni
Classe 1999, laureato in Scienze internazionali e Diplomatiche presso l’Università di Bologna e da sempre appassionato di affari internazionali. Studente all’ultimo anno di Master in International Relations presso la LUISS, ha approfondito tematiche riguardanti la sicurezza internazionale seguendo forum e partecipando a programmi di pianificazione militari secondo la dottrina NATO. Autore all’interno di Mondo Internazionale per l’area tematica “Organizzazioni Internazionali”.
Born in 1999, he holds a bachelor’s degree in International and Diplomatic Sciences from the University of Bologna and have always been passionate about international affairs. Currently a final-year student in the Master's degree program in International Relations at LUISS, he has delved into issues related to international security by following forums and participating in military planning programs based on NATO doctrine. Author and contributor to Mondo Internazionale for the "International Organisations” section.
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covid Xi Jinping Pechino Beijing politica sanitaria sanità sanità pubblica 2023 infezioni zero covid vaccino Cina viaggi OMS manifestazioni