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  2022-04-28

  Xi Jinping Is Betting It All on Zero Covid

  This is a news story from The Wall Street Journal by Eyck Freymann. This article is about President Xi Jinping's zero COVID goal. The author argues that this is a risky move for President Xi, as enforcing a zero COVID policy could have many economic ramifications. As of Monday, 45 cities with 373 million people, representing 40% of China’s gross domestic product, were under partial or full lockdown, according to Nomura estimates. More cities and counties are under “static management,” a euphemism for quasi-lockdown. President Xi's COVID policy gets compared to Chairman Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward, where it can start with a noble intention, but turn deadly for the population. Just like Mao faced great food shortages after the Great Leap Forward, locking down centers that produce a lot of the country's GDP is a risk too.
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  2022-04-03

  COVID: China struggles to contain large outbreak

  This is a news story by DW News. It is a story about how the outbreak of COVID has not been very well controlled in China, with China reporting 13,146 new cases, the most since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Despite these numbers, the Chinese government has claimed that there have been no new deaths despite the high number of infections. Shanghai is the worst affected region in China, in which as city of 25 million has been under lockdown. Vice President Sun Chunlan, who is on the Communist Party's Politburo claims that swift actions taken will help stop the spread of the virus. In Beijing, there have been lockdowns, mass testing, and travel restrictions placed on the populace. Residents of Shanghai are worried about the lockdowns exceeding four days, as it will limit their ability to obtain fresh food. Parents also fear being separated from their children for too long under strict quarantine. The article mentions Xi being in tough spot with this too, as these lockdowns will have an ill effect on an already fragile economic situation.