China censors zero-COVID debate after WHO criticises policy
Beijing, China - China’s censors scrambled to wipe out online debate over its zero-COVID strategy on Wednesday after the World Health Organization (WHO) criticised the country’s hardline approach to crushing the virus.
China is the last major economy glued to a zero-COVID policy and enforces some of the most stringent virus controls anywhere in the world.
Those restrictions have trapped most of Shanghai’s 25mn people in a lockdown with no clear end date, while Beijing has also gradually corralled many of its residents indoors as it battles its biggest outbreak since the pandemic began.
On Tuesday WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged China to change tack, saying the approach ‘will not be sustainable’ in the face of new fast-spreading variants.
The intervention prompted China’s army of internet censors to race to snuff out his comments. Searches for the hashtags ‘Tedros’ and ‘who’ on the popular Weibo social media platform displayed no results, while users of the WeChat app were unable to share an article posted on an official United Nations account.
A social media hashtag about the WHO’s comments, which had been a rallying point for lively online discussion, appeared to have been blocked by mid-morning. Before they were expunged from the internet, comments had questioned zeroCOVID, with one saying ‘even the WHO’s Tedros has now changed his stance’.
Another wrote: “Will our government listen to the WHO director general’s recommendations?”
Virus controls are causing mounting anger and frustration, especially in Shanghai where residents have raged against seemingly endless lockdowns, spartan quarantine facilities and heavy-handed enforcement.
The city has witnessed repeated protests and violent scuffles with police, rare images which have pinballed across social media before censors can catch up.
The ruling Communist Party says its virus strategy places life before material concerns and has averted the public health crises seen in other nations.