China’s state-run Global Times declared Wednesday that the Biden administration had “failed in its first year in office” against the Wuhan coronavirus. Chinese Communist newspaper dismissed Biden’s plans to distribute 500,000,000 at-home vaccine test kits and encourage booster shots. They called it a “placebo-like” strategy and too little, too late.
Global Times’ critique of America was intended to scare the United States into locking downs. Then, there were complaints about America’s “dangerous” determination to hold Christmas celebrations for its families.
Lu Xiang (an expert in US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) told the Global Times Wednesday that Biden’s plans did not include any new measures and were just comforting words. Lu stated that to control infectious diseases, society must take strict measures. Even the president can’t follow the simple step and wear a mask in public places.
China currently holds 13 million people in Xi’an under lockdown to stop a coronavirus epidemic. This is quite dramatic considering that the Chinese Communist Party claims it almost eradicated the coronavirus more than a year ago.
These massive lockdowns were apparently triggered by seven omicron infection cases across the country. The Washington Post reported on Thursday that China had locked down Dongxing in Vietnam, a city with 200,000 inhabitants after a single coronavirus case was reported.
According to the Chinese Communist Party, its ability to impose such draconian lockdowns at short notice is a demonstration of the superiority of its authoritarian system over messy, disobedient Western democracies.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), however, argued that China’s “zero Covid,” lockdown-heavy approach to its economy is doing more harm than the regime would like to admit. A growing number of factories are reporting delayed shipments, reduced production, and complete shutdowns. As a result, some Chinese ports and border cities have experienced significant economic contractions.
