Local cadres told to make rules more ‘precise, scientific’
Warnings over economic damage and growing public fatigue as strict mainland lockdowns bite
The nation has been urged to avoid excessive pandemic controls and provide a clear exit strategy from its hardline zero-Covid policy to mitigate damage to the economy.
A growing number of communities across the mainland are being placed under lockdown immediately after a new infection is detected, as local officials prioritise containment of the Omicron outbreak sweeping the country over economic performance.
In Beijing’s Daxing district, a community in Yizhuang was locked down yesterday after an “abnormal” test result.
“Pandemic controls require people to stay put, but economic development requires mobility. The flow of production factors are the presumptions for growth,” said Yang Weimin, deputy director of the economic affairs committee under the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Pandemic controls should be imposed in “a more precise and scientific pattern”, he said.
“And only when the pandemic is under control can we concentrate on promoting development,” Yang wrote in a column for news portal Sina.com.
The Inner Mongolian city of Baotou – a key base for rare earths production – imposed a blanket lockdown on Monday after two confirmed cases, while the industrial city of Wuhu in Anhui province was locked down after just one infection last week.
“Precise pandemic control is key to economic recovery,” said Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura, at a forum organised by Renmin University of China earlier this month.
“How to reduce the number of nucleic acid tests for all people, how to minimise extreme measures such as closing down cities and roads, and how to formulate unified national standards for closure and control, so as to prevent layers of rules ... building up.
“The [central] government should provide a clearer zeropolicy exit mechanism, so everyone can see hope and to reduce uncertainty, so that demand for investment needs will rise.”
Another government adviser in Beijing, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said local officials were prioritising zero-Covid.
“Have you ever seen officials dismissed because of poor economic conditions? [Right now] they are dismissed only because of the failure to control the outbreaks,” the adviser said.
China’s economy is being hit by its worst outbreak of the virus in two years, and the government has responded with stringent restrictions, including lockdowns, mass testing and quarantine in government facilities in several manufacturing hubs.
Despite the growing cost to the economy and public fatigue towards the harsh measures, Beijing has defended its containment policy, saying it has kept death rates low compared to other countries.
State media has been playing down the economic toll. A piece from Xinhua last week defended the measures, saying people’s lives were a priority and that Beijing was able to strike a balance between economic growth and pandemic control.
But whether local governments can maintain a balance remains in question, according to a source at a foreign business lobby in the capital.
“The priority for local officials in their performance evaluation this year is no Covid ... they don’t care about the second one, which is the economy,” said the source, who also asked not to be named because of the issue’s sensitivity.
Priority for local officials in their performance evaluation this year is no Covid
FOREIGN BUSINESS LOBBY SOURCE
Keeping the number of infections and deaths low is vital to the nation’s claims of political and moral superiority over the United States and Europe, where fatalities have been much higher, according to Adam Ni and Brian Wong, political analysts writing for the China Neican newsletter.
However, as the costs of eliminating Covid-19 rise, policy pressure for change will build, they said. Official case numbers do not include people who have suffered or died from a lack of medical care due to movement restrictions or prioritisation of public health resources to fight the virus, Ni and Wong said.
For now, Beijing is betting that its zero-Covid strategy will repeat the success of 2020 when the first outbreak began in Wuhan, which saw 13 million people placed under lockdown for more than three months. Wuhan quickly resumed activity after restrictions were lifted and its gross domestic product returned to pre-Covid levels by mid-2020.