President Xi Jinping said that China has entered a new phase in the fight against the coronavirus and that difficult challenges remain, the most honest public comment on the reversal of the Covid Zero policy that caused the national epidemic and tested the health and economic systems.
“Following a science-based and targeted approach, we have adapted the Covid response in light of the evolving situation, to protect people’s lives and health as much as possible,” Xi said in his New Year’s address on Saturday.
On Friday, Xi made his first comments on the Covid Zero policy since his government took the first easing step on December 7. He said the strategy was “optimized” to protect people’s lives and reduce economic costs. China’s sudden exit from Covid Zero – which for almost three years required mass testing, lockdown and mostly closed – has led to infections.
“With extraordinary efforts, we have overcome unprecedented difficulties and challenges, and this is not an easy journey for anyone,” Xi said, in what appeared to be a rare acknowledgment of the difficulties the Chinese have faced in imposing a lockdown, as also in the rapid spread of Covid.
The country is moving into a new phase of Covid control, Xi said, urging people to be patient. “Let’s make an extra effort to solve it, because perseverance and solidarity means victory,” he said, adding that “the light of hope is before us.”
China’s economy has “enjoyed sound development,” Xi said. Gross domestic product exceeded 120 trillion yuan ($17.4 trillion) this year, according to Xi, suggesting the economy will grow at least 4.4% in 2022. Analysts had forecast growth to slow to 3% this year.
The president hopes 2022 will be a year of celebration for him, allowing him to secure a third term at the Communist Party congress in October. But more than a month later his government is facing its most widespread protests in decades amid public anger over its harsh Covid Zero strategy.
Without referring to the protests, Xi said in his New Year’s speech that it was “unnatural” that the country’s 1.4 billion people have “different concerns” and “different views” on some issues. “It is important that we build consensus through communication and consultation,” he said.
Xi’s administration has loosened stricter policies leading to outbreaks in Beijing, Shanghai and several other major cities and provinces.
As a result, hospital emergency rooms and crematoriums are busy. The nation could see about 25,000 deaths a day from Covid-19 in January, according to Airfinity Ltd., a London-based research firm focused on predictive health analytics.
Xi bet next year’s economic rebound will help the nation through the shock, with officials vowing at a recent meeting of the 24-member Politburo to revive consumption and support the private sector.
Economic activity has increased in some large cities, data on subways, roads, airports and cinemas. “December will be the bottom of the economy,” Haitong Securities Co. analyst. including Liang Zhonghua wrote in the report there.
Challenge
China also faces challenges in its relationship with the US, although Xi and President Joe Biden took steps to ease tensions when they met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit last month in Indonesia.
On Thursday, China’s defense ministry said the United States was “creating the conditions” to resume military dialogue that Beijing halted in August, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan and the People’s Liberation Army responded with unprecedented military exercises.
The PLA this week staged its biggest exercise since Pelosi’s visit – sending 71 warplanes near the democratically-controlled island – to show Beijing’s displeasure with US lawmakers who agreed to a $1.7 trillion spending bill that includes $2 billion in arms funding for Taipei.
But Xi used a lighter tone than usual during his speech.
“The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are members of one and the same family,” he said. “I sincerely hope that our brothers and sisters on both sides of the Straits will work together with the same goal to promote the eternal prosperity of the Chinese nation.”
The president said he was “very happy to see that Hong Kong has restored order and is set to develop again” when he visited the city in July, and said the One Country, Two System arrangement will make sure that Hong Kong and Macau “have long-term happiness. – prosperity and long-term stability. “
Hong Kong introduced a national security law that Beijing imposed after it was rocked by pro-democracy protests in 2019 that sometimes turned violent.
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