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COVID Is on a Rampage in China

China recently loosened its COVID control policy after people took to the streets to protest the extreme, inhumane lockdown measures. As a result, COVID has  spread widely throughout the country.

On December 13, the authorities reported only 7,451 infection cases for the entire nation, which the public just did not accept as a number they could trust.

A video posted by a Beijing resident showed that an entire subway station, which used to be fully packed, had only three people in it, including the recorder himself.

Many doctors, nurses, and other medical staff are infected. They are asked to continue work if they can. Work units informed their employees to stay at home and not go to hospitals as hospitals had already “run beyond their full capacity.”

Radio Free Asia quoted an Internet posting that the author called 911 but was told that there were already 4,000 people ahead of him in the queue. Its reporter called Beijing’s hotline 120. The operator told him there were already 40 people waiting for an ambulance, and suggested the caller go to the hospital himself, so he would not be putting a wrong hope on an ambulance.

Funeral homes worked at full speed to cremate bodies. A Beijing resident posted on social media that after his father passed away, he could not find a funeral home to take in his father’s body. A doctor posted on social media that there was a five to seven day wait for cremation and his hospital did not have an empty morgue any longer. Radio Free Asia reported that four elderly people died in the Emergence Room of the Beijing University Hospital. Other patients stayed and waited with the corpse in the same room.

In addition to the present danger to the elderly, this COVID is also claiming young lives. Three children, at the ages of 13, 8, and 2, respectively, died after they had a high temperature.

Source: Epoch Times, December 13, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/13/n13884197.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Social Stability

After Public Protests, China Published “Ten New Measures” to Ease COVID Control

China’s National Health Commission announced ten new COVID measures to soften its strict COVID control policies, It was done in an effort to soothe the public anger that was demonstrated in a string of protests throughout China a week ago. Some key features include:

  • People with COVID, with either mild symptoms or no symptoms, can choose to isolate either at home or at a state controlled (centralized) facility. In the past, the authorities quarantine in centralized facilities not only those who were infected, but also people who were in the same building.
  • The designation of high-risk area should be “precise.” This was in reference to the individual building, the floor, or even the apartment. It should not be broadly applied to the entire residential neighborhood, street, or other area. (as the local authorities had done in the past)
  • The authorities should not mobilize (require) all residents to take COVID tests.
  • Venues, except those with the elderly, children, or patients, will not check visitors’ COVID test results. In the past, all visitors had to provide negative COVID results before being allowed to enter the facility.
  • People travelling do not need to show negative COVID test results at the new city, either.
  • It is strictly prohibited to use any method to block a fire emergency exit, a buildings door, etc. (This was in response to the Urumqi fire that claimed dozens of people’s lives. This happened because the authorities sealed apartment doors and fire exits.)
  • If no new cases are found, “high-risk” areas should come out of lockdown in five days. In the past, several cities in China had locked down the entire city for months even with though there were only a handful of cases.

These new measures represent a major change from the communist regime’s previous “Zero-COVID” policy, which aimed to control and quarantine anyone who either had contact or was in a vicinity close to a COVID patient.

The authorities had in fact issued 20 measures in November in an attempt to ease the policy, but apparently it was not enough and the public didn’t buy it.

Source: Chinese Government Official website, December 7, 2022
http://www.gov.cn/fuwu/2022-12/07/content_5730470.htm.

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China’s Number of First Marriages Fell Below 12 Million Last Year

China.com recently reported that, according to data just published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2021, the number of first marriages in China was 11.578 million, a decrease of 708,000 from the previous year. This is also the first time in 37 years that the number of first marriages has fallen below 12 million. It represents a new low since 1985. In the past 8 years, the number of first marriages has dropped by 51.5 percent. Data also shows that in 2021, there were 7.643 million marriage registrations. This is the first time since 2003 that the number of marriages has fallen below the 8 million mark. In recent years, the age of the first marriage of young people has been greatly delayed. According to the China Census Yearbook-2020, the average age of a first marriage in 2020 was 28.67 years old, an increase of 3.78 years from the average age of first marriages in 2010 (24.89 years old). Marriage registration data includes the number of first marriages and the number of remarriages. The number of first marriages is more closely related to the number of births than the number of remarriages. The decline in the number of marriages will also have a greater impact on future population development. First, the number of births will decrease even more and the birth rate will continue to decline. Second, the natural growth rate of the population will also be affected. Third, the average life expectancy of people will continue to increase and the population structure will further age. Data shows that in 2021, the proportion of China’s population aged 65 and over reached 14.2 percent. With reasons such as the decrease in the number of first marriages, this ratio is expected to continue to increase.

Source: China.com, December 2, 2022
http://guoqing.china.com.cn/2022-12/02/content_78548985.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

The CCP Tries to Cool Down the Blank Sheets of Paper Protest

As protests against the authorities’ extreme COVID control policy are mushrooming throughout China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been attempting to douse the fire with what appears to be both carrots and sticks. Blank sheets of paper have become a symbol of resistance among those protesting Beijing’s COVID lockdown policies. They are showing up at protests across the nation. In a nation where a protest message could get a person jailed, opponents of the Chinese regime are innovating by using a a blank page to call for change. Thus, the blank sheet of paper has become a symbol of resistance

The CCP issued a tough message through the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC), the top CCP organ in charge of domestic security, and through the judicial system, with a meeting on November 28 to announce it would “resolutely crack down on the infiltration and sabotage activities of hostile forces, and resolutely crack down on illegal and criminal acts that disrupt the social order.”

Truckloads of armed police have been dispatched to Shanghai and Beijing. In Guangzhou, the police have clashed with protesters. Demonstrators have thrown glass bottles at the police, and the police have used tear gas to disperse the protestors.

On the other hand, the central government has also made a conciliatory gesture regarding COVID restrictions. The National Health Commission stated on November 29 that “COVID control should lock down quickly and open up quickly (afterwards)” and “wherever it can open up, it should open up.”

Some local authorities have yielded to protesters’ demands and relaxed COVID controls in certain regions. The Guangzhou government ended the lockdown in Haizhu District on Nov 16 after the public protest. Urumqi in Xinjiang released several residential neighborhoods on Nov 26 after people took to the streets and the Shanghai government announced that on Dec 1, it would end the control in 24 high-risk regions.

Whether the CCP’s “hard and soft” strategy will completely quiet down the protest remains to be seen.

Sources:
1. Chinascope, November 29, 2022
http://chinascope.org/archives/31170
1. The Paper, November 29, 2022
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_20945808
2. China Outlook, November 30, 2022
https://news.creaders.net/china/2022/11/30/2552449.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

French Chamber of Commerce Called for Removing Excessive Covid Restrictions

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that the “French Embassy in China” posted in Chinese Weibo and pointed out that China’s Zero Covid policy has had an impact on French companies in China, who provide 570,000 jobs in China. French companies very much welcome the recent 20 measures to optimize the Covid control framework announced by China on November 11, which will greatly reduce the negative impact of pandemic prevention on economic activities and people’s lives. However, the French Chamber of Commerce in China has noticed that since the policy was first announced, the actual implementation results have not met the expectations of French companies in China. The Chamber of Commerce called on the Chinese government to truly implement the 20-measure policy and remove unnecessary and excessive covid restrictions. The Chamber of Commerce reiterated that French companies hope to see a clear strategy formulated in the near future to get out of the Zero Covid policy as soon as possible. China still plays a pivotal role for French companies and a transparent, predictable and fair business environment is essential. The announcement issued by the Chamber indicated that the three major obstacles are: severely restricted Chinese domestic business travel, international travel between China and France is still being restricted, and there is a more and more serious trend of restricting local business activities within a city. The French Embassy Weibo received massive comments from Chinese netizens, mainly to support the Embassy. Some thanked the French for the posting since the Chinese government typically don’t delete Embassy content to control speech.

Source: NetEase, November 25, 2022
https://www.163.com/dy/article/HMVR6U2K0534B9EY.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend Social Stability

China’s State TV Deletes Footage of Maskless World Cup Audience

China’s draconian COVID-19 control measures have led to nationwide street protests. The ongoing World Cup contributed to Chinese people’s anger as the state TV broadcasted the larges crowds who were in the game audience and who wore no mask. Now, Beijing is even cutting out close-ups of unmasked soccer fans in Qatar.

Agence France-Presse reported that during the live broadcast of the group stage match between Japan and Costa Rica, the sports channel of state broadcaster CCTV (China Central Television) Sports replaced close-ups of unmasked fans waving flags with images of individual players, officials or long shots of the stadium.

As tens of millions of people in major cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Chongqing are still under some form of lockdown, the images of a happy and raucous maskless World Cup audience presents a stark contrast, angering Chinese netizens.

On November 22, a WeChat post questioning whether “China is on the same planet as Qatar” was swiftly removed from the cyberspace.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), November 27, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202211270231.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

CCP Political and Legal Affairs Committee: Resolutely Crack Down on Disruption of the Social Order

On November 28, two days after the outbreak of nationwide protests against the zero-COVID policy, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) held a plenary session emphasizing the need to “resolutely crack down on the infiltration and sabotage activities of hostile forces, and resolutely crack down on illegal and criminal acts that disrupt the social order.”

Chen Wenqing, the new head of the PLAC, presided over the meeting.  Wang Xiaohong, the Minister of Public Security, Zhou Qiang, the president of the Supreme People’s Court, and Zhang Jun, the president of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate also attended. As the four are the leaders of China’s judiciary authorities, the meeting was considered to be the CCP’s response to the protests.

This meeting called for strengthening the “combat spirit” and accelerating the construction of a higher level of “a safe China under the rule of law.”

This meeting stressed the need promptly to channel and resolve conflicts and disputes and to help solve the practical difficulties of the people. It also asked “resolutely to combat the infiltration and sabotage activities of hostile forces, resolutely to combat illegal and criminal acts that disrupt the social order, and effectively to maintain the general stability of society.”

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), November 29, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202211290383.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability