Harsh regime to be eased, but Xi’s pandemic rules to remain
China may be loosening its lockdown restrictions — the tightest in the world — but Xi Jinping’s signature “zerocovid” policies are set to live on.
Draconian contact-tracing surveillance has become another tool for social control under the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is nowhere near being rolled back.
Tagging someone as a close contact still means restricting their mobility significantly — something the government has been quick to deploy to confine those deemed to be troublemakers, such as protesters and human rights lawyers.
Some of the personal data collected through the Covid response apparatus allowed Beijing to swiftly track down all those in the vicinity of the recent demonstrations against Xi’s rule. And, for confirmation that
China will continue to spy on its own population, look no further than the 10 new rules for relaxing lockdown released by the CCP.
One directs officials to: “Enhance the monitoring of populations still at risk for Covid.”
The “grid-style policing” whereby officials are assigned to watch certain areas for rule-breakers will probably still be used to enforce the new home quarantine system for those with “mild symptoms”. Meanwhile, it remains unclear what will constitute a “mild” case and what will be seen as a severe infection for centralised quarantine.
China’s borders are still largely closed with few visas granted to foreigners. Some experts expect a wider reopening in mid-2023 but that’s still more than a year after most nations relaxed their travel curbs.
The only real move that puts China back to a pre-pandemic “normal” is that pharmacies are no longer allowed to restrict purchases of overthe-counter cold medicines. Since the pandemic erupted, chemists have been required to report anyone buying such medicines — another way to keep tabs and quarantine those who might have coronavirus.
Health code checks are also still required in certain places, such as hospitals and schools. In practice, this means people without negative test results could continue to be refused key medical treatment.
In other words, lockdowns are not over but rather will become more targeted.
What remains to be seen is how China implements these small changes on the ground. An outbreak will still be a problem for local officials with a mandate to control the pandemic. Beijing needs to choreograph its propaganda in order to avoid giving the impression of wrongdoing, or that it is caving in to protesters’ demands — lest it embolden future demonstrators.
However, that’s easier said than done after three years of messaging that all strains of coronavirus are super deadly, and that “zero-covid” curbs were a necessary sacrifice to keep all safe and an example of why China is superior to the West.
There’s also no telling what will happen if infections explode — if China’s hospital systems start to buckle, the authorities may have no choice but to reinstate curbs.