BEIJING (`) — A Chinese think tank on Monday brought out a rare public disagreement with the ruling Communist Party’s strict “zero-COVID” policy, saying curbs that shut down cities and disrupt trade, travel and industry must be changed to prevent an “economic standstill”.
The Anbound Research Center gave no details on possible changes, but said President Xi Jinping’s administration needs to focus on bolstering slowing growth. It noted that the United States, Europe and Japan are recovering…
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BEIJING (`) — A Chinese think tank on Monday brought out a rare public disagreement with the ruling Communist Party’s strict “zero-COVID” policy, saying curbs that shut down cities and disrupt trade, travel and industry must be changed to prevent an “economic standstill”.
The Anbound Research Center gave no details on possible changes, but said President Xi Jinping’s administration needs to focus on bolstering slowing growth. It noted that the United States, Europe and Japan are recovering economically after easing disease-fighting restrictions.
“Preventing the risk of economic standstill should be the priority,” the think tank said in a report titled “It’s time for China to adjust its virus control and prevention policies.”
Even such a slight public disagreement with official politics is almost unheard of in a politically sensitive year when Xi, China’s most powerful leader since at least the 1980s, is expected to attempt to extend his tenure.
Sunday’s report was posted to the Anbound Research Center’s accounts on popular messaging platform WeChat and microblog service Sina Weibo, but was deleted by both on Monday afternoon.
Antivirus restrictions are widely expected to remain in place at least until after a Communist Party meeting in October and November, at which Xi is likely to break with tradition and give himself a third five-year term as leader.
Economists warn that China needs to boost growth, which fell to 2.5% from a year earlier in the first half of 2022, less than half of the official annual target of 5.5%, after Shanghai and other industrial hubs shut down from late March were made to combat virus outbreaks.
“China’s economy is at risk of stalling due to the “impact of epidemic prevention and control measures,” the think tank said.
The economy is also under pressure from a slump in property activity after Beijing tightened controls on industry use of debt.
Economists and public health experts have been warning since mid-2021 that “zero-COVID,” which aims to keep the virus out of China by isolating every case, is unsustainable. Officials respond that they have no alternative because the spread of the virus would overwhelm Chinese hospitals.
A Shanghai doctor with 3 million social media followers, Zhang Wenhong, has been shut down from official criticism and subjected to a plagiarism investigation in 2021 after implying that China’s strategy may be changing and the world “needs to learn how to deal with it.” Virus coexists”.
Founded in 1993, Anbound claims to have served the Communist Party’s Central Financial and Economic Leading Group and provided research to government agencies and financial institutions.
His report gave no indication whether it might reflect the thinking of officials unhappy with the rising economic and human costs of “zero-COVID.”
China’s policies have kept death and infection numbers low but have sparked a wave of business disruptions.
According to news reports, local governments are cutting public services and wages for civil servants to pay for virus testing and disease control measures.
The economic impact of repeated business and neighborhood closures is more severe than last year, the think tank said. It said the “freezing effect” could be even worse than when the outbreak began in 2020, and the entire economy was temporarily shut down.
On Monday, the southern city of Shenzhen, a tech and financial hub bordering Hong Kong, announced a three-day shutdown of some residential areas in a bid to contain an outbreak and shut down the world’s largest electronics market.
Also on Monday, the government of Shenyang, the most populous city in the northeast, postponed the start of face-to-face classes this week for elementary and high school students.
China needs to “focus on economic recovery and gradually integrate with the world,” the Anbound report said.
Travel restrictions keep most foreign visitors away. The government has stopped replacing expired passports and has urged the public to avoid traveling abroad.
Last week, the US government canceled 26 Chinese airline flights from the United States to China amid a dispute over Beijing’s antivirus controls. China had earlier forced American airlines to cancel the same number of flights after some passengers tested positive for the virus.
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