The headline-making story right now would be the war between China and Communism. The eastern half of the city will be locked down until April for mass COVID-19 testing. The western half will be locked down until April. Health officials conduct tests in areas that are shut down. There is a facility.
In Jilin province there are millions of people. Over 17 million have been locked down. The most drastic move yet is the closing of the commercial and financial center of the world's second largest economy, Shanghai. The plan was able to limit the spread of the virus. The death toll in the U.S. is close to 1 million and China has reported fewer than 5,000 deaths. Even if China's official numbers are suspect, the loss of life has been closer to the levels reported in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.
Zero-COVID exacts a heavy economic toll. China's economic growth has been slowing for years as rising wages reduce incentives for foreign companies to use China as a manufacturing hub and as large-scale state investment in infrastructure and real estate development creates an oversupply of both. Everyone, including China, must pay to import fuel, food, and other commodities because of the war in Ukraine. It will add to the burden if half of Shanghai is shut down for a few days.
Some zero-COVID rules have been loosened because of this reality. People with mild symptoms can now report to local Quarantine facilities instead of being forced into overwhelmed hospitals. The length of some scurries has been reduced. China's government isn't ready to change course despite the economic damage done.
At a politically sensitive time, all this trouble comes. The Communist Party Congress is expected to approve a third term for China's leader. Since the outbreak of the Pandemic, the leader of the country has tried to shift blame for the beginning of the disease to the censors who allowed it to go global. He made his case for the superiority of China's system by pointing to the political turmoil, economic turmoil, and higher death toll in America and Europe.
The Omicron variant has made life more complicated in China. The country has been hit hard because so few Chinese have been jabbed with the more effective vaccines found in the U.S. and Europe.
New treatments and the development of a domestically made vaccine will come sooner rather than later. The risk is rising that the disruption of Chinese life will get worse before it gets better, and that Xi will have to carefully manage the economic and political repercussions to keep his long-term consolidation of political control on track.
We can be reached at letters@time.com.
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