It’s really hard to tell what China is doing as an outsider. Xi has an “election” soon and there is political opposition in Shanghai so lockdown could be related. Most things happen for either power or money.
I've been thinking about this for a while but I assume most of these procedures are done in an attempt to save face and look good on the international stage. I find it quite ironic that COVID became big during the year of the Summer Olympics; a game intended on bringing different countries and cultures together to battle it out and see who is the best. Only with COVID, it was which country could lock down and limit spread the best sans civil liberties.
I did find it quite uncomfortable how much we applauded countries like New Zealand only for them to double down on their draconian measures in an attempt to still seem like it's the model of what to do during a pandemic much the same way Hong Kong and China has been doing it.
Certainly the refusal to concede Zero COVID is a failed strategy is most likely driven by the need to save face. What is perplexing is the inability of the CCP oligarchy to craft a rationale that Zero COVID needs to evolve.
Is there a political motive involved? Quite possibly, particularly in Shanghai.
The assumption we tend to make is that the CCP oligarchy is comprised of rational actors. Sometimes, that is not the case.
It’s really hard to tell what China is doing as an outsider. Xi has an “election” soon and there is political opposition in Shanghai so lockdown could be related. Most things happen for either power or money.
It's not hard to tell the "what", but the "why" is an eternal mystery.
Certainly a power struggle between rival factions of the CCP explains much in Shanghai. Beijing is a bit murkier.
I've been thinking about this for a while but I assume most of these procedures are done in an attempt to save face and look good on the international stage. I find it quite ironic that COVID became big during the year of the Summer Olympics; a game intended on bringing different countries and cultures together to battle it out and see who is the best. Only with COVID, it was which country could lock down and limit spread the best sans civil liberties.
I did find it quite uncomfortable how much we applauded countries like New Zealand only for them to double down on their draconian measures in an attempt to still seem like it's the model of what to do during a pandemic much the same way Hong Kong and China has been doing it.
Certainly the refusal to concede Zero COVID is a failed strategy is most likely driven by the need to save face. What is perplexing is the inability of the CCP oligarchy to craft a rationale that Zero COVID needs to evolve.
Is there a political motive involved? Quite possibly, particularly in Shanghai.
The assumption we tend to make is that the CCP oligarchy is comprised of rational actors. Sometimes, that is not the case.