https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-11-11/xi-finally-eases-covid-zero-as-criticism-grows
Back in May, as lockdowns in China’s two biggest cities spurred rare outbursts of anger, President Xi Jinping and the nation’s top leaders declared that his signature Covid Zero policy “can stand the test of history.”
Six months later, it’s not looking so good.
Key reading:
- China Eases Quarantine, Flight Bans in Covid Zero Pivot
- China’s New Leaders Back a More Targeted, ‘Decisive’ Covid Zero
- Here’s What Changed in Top China Leadership’s Covid Language
- These Are the 20 New Rules China Is Following to Combat Covid
- Euphoria Sweeps China Stocks as Signs of Covid Zero Pivot Emerge
China today took its biggest steps yet to open up since the pandemic began, releasing 20 new rules that will make it easier to travel and live in the world’s second-biggest economy. Major steps included a cut to mandatory quarantine for travelers and a pullback on testing, along with a renewed push to vaccinate the elderly.
Xi and his allies on the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee opened the door for the changes yesterday in one of its first meetings after he secured a precedent-busting third term in office last month. China’s battered stocks soared.
Pressure had been building on the Chinese leader to shift course for months. With economic growth sputtering close to a four-decade low, criticisms of the policy in China began to mount — including with a rare public protest in Beijing that embarrassed Xi just days before his coronation.
At the same time, it’s unclear how far he can go in opening China. A lackluster elderly vaccination rate means more than a million people could perish if China starts living with the virus, which would undermine Xi at home and abroad.
While any easing for China is good for the world economy, Xi still has a tough road ahead balancing demands to open further with the risks of overwhelmed hospitals and widespread death. — Daniel Ten Kate