{"id":1309467,"date":"2022-02-18T09:37:49","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T14:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1309467"},"modified":"2022-02-18T09:37:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T14:37:55","slug":"china-admits-constant-lockdowns-are-hurting-its-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-admits-constant-lockdowns-are-hurting-its-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"China Admits Constant Lockdowns Are Hurting Its Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-admits-constant-lockdowns-are-hurting-its-economy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1309467&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\"><span>Chinese officials on Thursday admitted the massive lockdowns imposed against coronavirus outbreaks in major cities across China are inflicting significant damage upon the Chinese economy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/china-economy\/article\/3167369\/chinas-zero-covid-policy-under-review-economic-pressure\"><i><span>South China Morning Post<\/span><\/i><\/a><span> (SCMP) reported that \u201cmultiple teams\u201d have been assembled to brainstorm methods of coping with the economic fallout from \u201czero-Covid\u201d policies and devise less draconian methods of containing future outbreaks.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>Judging from the approach taken by these teams, the Chinese Communist dictatorship is a little nervous about growing public unease with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/12\/30\/china-starving-out-13-million-trapped-epicenter-coronavirus-outbreak\/\"><span>deranged lockdowns<\/span><\/a><span> imposed on cities like Xi\u2019an over the past few months:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said researchers were \u201ccertainly able\u201d to roll out new strategies in the near term, while noting they were \u201cactively thinking and planning\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Improved control measures would differ from the current \u201cdynamic clearing\u201d policy, but China is unlikely to simply lift all restrictions as some Western countries have done, he said at a forum on Tuesday held by the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Any changes to China\u2019s pandemic policies would put \u201cpeople first and life first\u201d, while also allowing China to better interact with the international community and safeguard its own economic development, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>SCMP <\/span><\/i><span>suggested Beijing is also nervous about falling behind on economics now that Western powers appear to have turned against lockdowns as a pandemic control measures, and worried about Chinese citizens losing patients with the incredibly costly \u201czero-Covid\u201d approach when other nations are finding less heavy-handed ways of dealing with the Wuhan coronavirus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The International Monetary Fund (IMF) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2022\/jan\/21\/imf-warns-china-over-cost-of-covid-lockdowns\"><span>advised<\/span><\/a><span> China to review its zero-Covid policies in late January, warning that China\u2019s expensive total lockdowns could jeopardize the global post-pandemic recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>\u201cChina is still using a zero-Covid policy. But what Covid is teaching all of us is that a highly transmissible variant may be much more difficult to contain without a dramatic impact on the economy,\u201d IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Chinese officials blocked two members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of Covid-19 from entering China. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4QwbQXOtct\">https:\/\/t.co\/4QwbQXOtct<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1350849218538319875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 17, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Also weighing upon the minds of Chinese Communist officials is the situation in Hong Kong, where coronavirus cases have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/hong-kong-leader-asks-residents-remain-confident-support-covid-restrictions-2022-02-17\/\"><span>surged<\/span><\/a><span> by roughly 60 times in a single month, but the local government is reluctant to impose Xi\u2019an-style lockdowns that could permanently destroy the city\u2019s already perilous position as a global financial hub.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The rest of China\u2019s population might not be comfortable with giving Hong Kong a special \u201cdynamic zero-Covid\u201d policy exemption to the rigid and grueling lockdown rules that apply to other cities.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/16\/world\/asia\/hong-kong-covid-omicron-wave.html\"><i><span>New York Times<\/span><\/i><\/a> <span>on Wednesday had some fun quoting Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam admitting that she \u201creally can\u2019t explain\u201d what \u201cdynamic zero-Covid\u201d actually means, while some pro-Beijing lawmakers think asking for a precise definition of the term should be illegal under Hong Kong\u2019s oppressive national security law.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>For the moment, \u201cdynamic zero-Covid\u201d is a rhetorical placeholder for some yet-to-be-formulated policy that will somehow eliminate the coronavirus without subjecting Hong Kong to the lockdowns imposed on other cities. The most fanatical Beijing loyalists are beginning to mutter about prosecuting Hong Kong officials as \u201ctwo-faced\u201d traitors if they don\u2019t get the coronavirus under control soon.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19483578\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/empty-roads-coronavirus-lockdown-xi-an-china-dec28-21-getty.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19483578\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/empty-roads-coronavirus-lockdown-xi-an-china-dec28-21-getty.jpg\" alt=\"This photo taken on December 28, 2021 shows nearly empty roads in Xi&#039;an in China&#039;s northern Shaanxi province, amid a coronavirus lockdown in the city. - China OUT (Photo by AFP) \/ China OUT (Photo by STR\/AFP via Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>This photo taken on December 28, 2021 shows nearly empty roads in Xi\u2019an in China\u2019s northern Shaanxi province, amid a coronavirus lockdown in the city. (STR\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Another <\/span><i><span>SCMP <\/span><\/i><span>article on Thursday <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/politics\/article\/3167425\/coronavirus-why-xi-jinpings-message-hong-kong-wasnt-relayed\"><span>claimed<\/span><\/a><span> this political turbulence is the reason dictator Xi Jinping <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2022\/02\/16\/xi-jinping-returns-from-shadows-pressure-hong-kong-coronavirus-lockdown\/\"><span>conveyed<\/span><\/a><span> his \u201cadvice\u201d for controlling the massive Hong Kong outbreak to Lam through intermediaries, instead of posting his instructions to Lam as public pronouncements in worshipful Chinese state media.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cUnusually, the message was largely absent from mainland media \u2013 there was no mention in <\/span><i><span>People\u2019s Daily<\/span><\/i><span>, Xinhua or on CCTV. Observers say that is because it is intended for the Hong Kong audience, and that Beijing does not want to stir more debate on the city among the mainland public,\u201d the <\/span><i><span>SCMP <\/span><\/i><span>wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One of those observers was an unnamed \u201cmainland official\u201d who bluntly stated \u201cthe deliberate omission of the story in mainland media was a bid to avoid a public backlash against Hong Kong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In fact, the <\/span><i><span>SCMP <\/span><\/i><span>noted Chinese state media barely mentions the outbreak in Hong Kong at all, not even in publications and broadcasts specifically dedicated to tracking Covid-19 outbreaks. The most recent mention of Hong Kong in mainland publications was a report on Saturday about a mainland city struggling to ship vegetables to the island.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese officials on Thursday admitted the massive lockdowns imposed against coronavirus outbreaks in major cities across China are inflicting significant damage upon the Chinese economy. The South China Morning Post &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1309467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}