{"id":1425127,"date":"2022-04-08T08:01:43","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T12:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1425127"},"modified":"2022-04-08T08:01:51","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T12:01:51","slug":"china-abuses-its-people-with-new-lockdowns-as-it-struggles-to-contain-covid-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-abuses-its-people-with-new-lockdowns-as-it-struggles-to-contain-covid-surge\/","title":{"rendered":"China Abuses Its People With New Lockdowns As It Struggles To Contain Covid Surge"},"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\">28<\/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-abuses-its-people-with-new-lockdowns-as-it-struggles-to-contain-covid-surge%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=1425127&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--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/shanghai-e1649278046752.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The Chinese Community Party\u2019s leader Xi Jinping\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/asia_pacific\/chinas-xi-attempts-a-coronavirus-victory-lap-with-visit-to-wuhan\/2020\/03\/10\/ca585ddc-6281-11ea-8a8e-5c5336b32760_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declared China\u2019s victory<\/a>\u00a0over Covid-19 in March 2020. Yet, more than two years later, the Chinese government is still trying to contain another Covid outbreak in many parts of the nation. Its struggle exposes the fundamental flaws of China\u2019s political system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Back in March 2020, when Xi took his victory lap in Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, the CCP propaganda machine portrayed it as indisputable evidence of the superiority of China\u2019s political system and Xi\u2019s leadership. Even some in the west\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/stanforddaily.com\/2020\/03\/18\/coronavirus-has-vindicated-china-exposed-the-west\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">parroted<\/a>\u00a0Beijing\u2019s talking points, claiming the Covid response \u201chas fully demonstrated the superiority of Chinese governance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To maintain China\u2019s image of success, the Chinese government has insisted on a \u201cZero Covid\u201d policy, relying on mandatory vaccination, testing, quarantines, and border control to isolate the entire nation from the rest of the world for more than two years. The long isolation has led to low herd immunity in China.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese government also insisted on using Chinese-made vaccines, even though these vaccines had gone through limited clinical trials and had reported\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/health\/medical\/how-effective-is-the-sinovac-vaccine-a-new-study-says-immunity-lasts-about-six-months\/ar-AAMDwzw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">low efficacy rates<\/a>. The combined effect of low herd immunity and Chinese vaccines\u2019 low efficacy is that the Chinese population has become especially vulnerable to more infectious Covid variants such as Delta and Omicron.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>More Lockdowns in China<\/h2>\n<p>Since last fall, China has experienced another Covid outbreak in many parts of the country and responded by putting multiple cities and regions under lockdowns, even though plenty of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/the_brumby\/status\/1349478826800136196\">evidence<\/a>, including a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.krieger.jhu.edu\/iae\/files\/2022\/01\/A-Literature-Review-and-Meta-Analysis-of-the-Effects-of-Lockdowns-on-COVID-19-Mortality.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Johns Hopkins University study<\/a>, has shown that lockdowns are \u201cnot an effective way of reducing mortality rates during a pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On March 26, the government of Shanghai (China\u2019s largest city, with 25 million people)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/shanghai-imposes-staggered-lockdowns-to-keep-coronavirus-at-bay-11648399828?mod=hp_lead_pos9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a>\u00a0it would impose a lockdown in two phases over the next week and a half. Before this announcement, some sectors in Shanghai were already under lockdown for weeks. The images and news of the Chinese government\u2019s cruel way of enforcing some of the most nonsensical policies have shocked the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"IXfmZUhN9xgW7jlwudQKZFbGCN8HbAWSvfMqTJo0dVIsC9ih6OocXFSYKyO3kcL\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As seen on Weibo: Shanghai residents go to their balconies to sing &#038; protest lack of supplies. A drone appears: \u201cPlease comply w covid restrictions. Control your soul\u2019s desire for freedom. Do not open the window or sing.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0ZTc8fznaV\">https:\/\/t.co\/0ZTc8fznaV<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pAnEGOlBIh\">pic.twitter.com\/pAnEGOlBIh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Alice Su (@aliceysu) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aliceysu\/status\/1511558828802068481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 6, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Kids Quarantined without Parents<\/h2>\n<p>The policy that caused most condemnation is that children who are seven or younger and tested positive for Covid must be quarantined at public health centers separated from their parents. When government workers forcefully took a kid away from home, they always promised the parents that they would take good care of the child and send the parents updates. In reality, parents said they often didn\u2019t know their kids\u2019 whereabouts and hadn\u2019t seen their faces or heard their voices for weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Each nurse is <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fangshimin\/status\/1510095308919042051\">reportedly<\/a> assigned to look after up to 20 babies and toddlers at those quarantine centers. Nurses have been so overwhelmed that they neglect to look after many children\u2019s needs. One mom said her three-year-old son was left alone to manage everything from eating to going to the bathroom all by himself during his 16-day quarantine at one of those centers. An unverified\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/video\/2022\/apr\/04\/children-with-covid-in-shanghai-reportedly-separated-from-parents-video\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">video of neglected children crying and screaming at one of those quarantine centers<\/a>\u00a0went viral in China recently and resulted in widespread public outrage.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"C5WI8Vd1nKAyXvzmxB\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Shanghai&#8217;s 25 million people under lockdown indefinitely. Chinese social media shows some breaking out of lockdown to protest, chanting: &#8220;we want freedom&#8221;; &#8220;why are you starving us?&#8221;<br \/>Much of the dissent is censored. Most of videos in our story were erased from the internet <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@cnn<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QUHrfqEhiG\">pic.twitter.com\/QUHrfqEhiG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Selina Wang (@selinawangtv) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/selinawangtv\/status\/1511614912304402433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 6, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>When the government finally released some of the children back home, these kids have exhibited Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms (PTSD). One mom\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fangshimin\/status\/1510316745554235400\/photo\/2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shared online<\/a>\u00a0that after her 17-month-old daughter returned, the toddler treated mommy as a stranger and screamed whenever the mother tried to bathe her. Many anxious parents are now concerned about the mental health of their young children and their physical well-being.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Horrified by how inhuman the policy was, the French consulate in Shanghai, on behalf of several European nations,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HRaleighspeaks\/status\/1510430814667898883\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">urged<\/a>\u00a0the Shanghai government not to separate children from their parents in the name of quarantine. Yet a Shanghai health official\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/lifestyle\/shanghai-official-defends-brutal-policy-063058204.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">defended<\/a>\u00a0this policy as a critical step to virus \u201cprevention and control work.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Shanghai Starved<\/h2>\n<p>Besides being separated from their young children, Shanghai residents have many other complaints. First, many households are <a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/shanghai-residents-frustrated-food-shortages-071135275.html\">experiencing starvation<\/a> because government workers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2022-04-06\/covid-outbreak-extremely-grim-as-shanghai-extends-lockdown\/100969750\">blockade<\/a> apartment buildings and wouldn\u2019t let residents go out to buy groceries. Authorities\u2019 promise of delivering food and necessities to each household has often failed to come through. <\/p>\n<p>Alice Su, a senior correspondent for The Economist, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aliceysu\/status\/1511558828802068481\">tweeted<\/a> that \u201cShanghai residents go to their balconies to sing &#038; protest lack of supplies. A drone appears: \u2018Please comply w covid restrictions. Control your soul\u2019s desire for freedom. Do not open the window or sing.&#8217;\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Second, people who experienced medical emergencies or have chronic diseases such as asthma couldn\u2019t receive timely medical care, and some\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fangshimin\/status\/1510707042494820353\">reportedly<\/a> ended up losing their lives. Third, police and government health workers abuse their power, with reports of them\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/04\/08\/china-abuses-its-people-with-new-lockdowns-as-it-struggles-to-contain-covid-surge\/blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">illegally entering and searching people\u2019s homes<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fangshimin\/status\/1511042212699598849\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">beating<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fangshimin\/status\/1511203098626170880\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shaming<\/a>\u00a0non-compliant residents. <\/p>\n<p>Fourth, there\u2019s a growing mental health crisis in the city. Some residents\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fangshimin\/status\/1510760196590632967\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">took their own lives<\/a>\u00a0after being locked up in their apartment buildings for weeks. For the older generation, the brutal and inhuman way that Chinese authorities enforce absurd Covid restrictions reminds them of the abuses from the Red Guards they endured during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).<\/p>\n<h2>Lockdowns Aren\u2019t Working<\/h2>\n<p>Shanghai\u2019s harshly enforced Covid restrictions have failed to stop the virus\u2019s spread. As of April 5, the city reported more than 13,000 new Covid cases, double the number before the city\u2019s lockdown. The Shanghai government decided to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/siladityaray\/2022\/04\/05\/shanghai-extends-covid-19-lockdown-as-case-count-continues-to-rise\/?sh=28ff86636a20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">extend lockdowns indefinitely<\/a>, which means the misery and suffering Shanghai residents have endured for the last two weeks will continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Besides human suffering, there are economic concerns. Shanghai is the most influential finance and international trade center globally, accounting for about 4 percent of China\u2019s GDP. Throughout China, regions experiencing Shanghai-style lockdowns represent about one-third of China\u2019s GDP. These lockdowns are estimated to cost the Chinese economy\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/click1.crm.foreignpolicy.com\/zdbsstqfqzskrrrbkbztdkgqcmkttgfbdbrfmdlsdwrrd_nkkqdttjydnqptjprpdff.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$46 billion per month<\/a>\u00a0in economic output.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s struggle to contain the Covid outbreak 2.0 exposes the fundamental flaw of its political system. The country is an authoritarian regime run by one party and its dictator Xi Jinping. By declaring an early victory over Covid more than two years ago, Xi had tied the victory over Covid to the credibility of his leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Xi is set to begin his third term later this year after\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-43361276\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">eliminating the two-term limit of his position<\/a>, and he desperately needs to demonstrate his \u201cZero Covid\u201d policy a success. Therefore, he sees the current Covid outbreak as an embarrassment that needs to be eliminated at all costs. <\/p>\n<p>He also faces little consequence for his actions, no matter how ridiculous or how much harm they cause. There is no election to hold him accountable, no independent media to challenge his policies, and anyone who seeks to speak truth to power has already been suppressed. The Chinese government will continue to brutally enforce its ineffective Covid restrictions as long as Xi deems necessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Economists are concerned that China\u2019s continuing \u201cZero Covid\u201d approach will slow China\u2019s economic growth this year and will hurt the global economic recovery, worsen the supply chain issues, and increase the risk of a worldwide recession. As we all learned from Covid, the rest of the world is never immune from bad things that happen in China.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Helen Raleigh, CFA, is an American entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. She&#8217;s a senior contributor at The Federalist. Her writings appear in other national media, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News.  Helen is the author of several books, including &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Confucius-Never-Said-Helen-Raleigh\/dp\/1499185278\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&#038;keywords=Helen+Raleigh+Confucius+Never+Said&#038;qid=1606079469&#038;sr=8-1\">Confucius Never Said<\/a>&#8221; and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Backlash-How-Chinas-Aggression-Backfired\/dp\/1736008501\/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&#038;qid=1606006113&#038;sr=8-1\">Backlash: How Communist China&#8217;s Aggression Has Backfired<\/a>.&#8221; Follow her on Parler and Twitter: @HRaleighspeaks.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chinese Community Party\u2019s leader Xi Jinping\u00a0declared China\u2019s victory\u00a0over Covid-19 in March 2020. Yet, more than two years later, the Chinese government is still trying to contain another Covid outbreak<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":536,"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-1425127","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\/1425127","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\/536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1425127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425127\/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=1425127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1425127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1425127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}