The Chinese Communist Party plans to avoid a zero-covid reckoning
Like Chairman Mao, Xi Jinping seems to believe that China’s rise trumps individual suffering
Across China, families are enduring avoidable misery and heartbreak, as loved ones succumb to a deadly—and predictable—wave of covid-19 infections for which their rulers failed to prepare. Some overseas analysts talk of a turning-point. They wonder if today’s policy disarray, which follows on the heels of anti-lockdown protests in late 2022, signals a crisis of legitimacy for President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Avoiding a zero-covid reckoning”
From the January 7th 2023 edition
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