Covid and Taiwan: China increasingly irrational – and dangerous “The question is not if, but when”: Austrian minister warns of EU blackouts

What is happening in China defies any rational assessment. Within a few weeks, the People’s Republic switched from a rigorous zero-Covid policy to total contagion. The virus is raging through the population like a tsunami. Countless people are sick, hospitals and crematoriums are overloaded.

Until recently, even individual corona infections were combated with hard lockdowns and admissions to the notorious ‘quarantine centres’. In regions like Xinjiang, people have been locked in their homes for more than 100 days. Now the government allows people to go to work if they have a “mild” illness.

It’s hard to believe. Is this the same country whose regime has touted its Zero Covid policy as a role model for the world for nearly three years? In turn, the propaganda media pounded the “decadent” West, particularly the United States, where the pandemic has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

Wrong priorities

The justification for the radical change of course seems far-fetched. It has recently been reported that Omikron is “harmless” than previous virus variants (as if we hadn’t known that for a long time). The Communist Party also claims Zero Covid bought time to prepare China to “live with the virus”.

But that is precisely what cannot be said. For example, huge sums of money were spent on long-term tests, while the medical infrastructure was not adapted to the wave of disease. The vaccination campaign was also neglected. The elderly in particular are not or insufficiently vaccinated. They are largely defenseless.

Absurd test requirement

Experts consider the Chinese corona vaccines quite suitable. However, three doses are needed for proper immune protection. And Beijing still wants nothing to do with Western vaccines. Head of state Xi Jinping is said to have just turned down an offer from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The government announced on Monday that the quarantine requirement on arrival in China will no longer apply from January 8. A negative PCR test no more than 48 hours old is still required – for entry into a country where the virus is raging like never before. Not even Samuel Beckett, the master of the theater of the absurd, would have come up with this idea.

5000 deaths a day

The government need not worry about that. It stopped publishing daily corona data on Sunday. She was probably aware that the reported few thousand infections had nothing to do with reality. The British health data analyst Airfinity assumes a million new infections and 5000 deaths in China – per day.

The World Health Organization (WHO) was “deeply concerned” about developments in China last week. It is important to speed up the vaccination campaign. The change of course is received differently by the general public. While some are happy, others wonder why the endless lockdowns and endurance tests were necessary.

Xi Jinping’s prestige

For President Xi Jinping, Zero Covid has long been a matter of prestige. He celebrated as a “victor” over the virus and tried to disguise the supposed origins of the pandemic in Wuhan. When experts recommended moving away from Zero Covid after the rise of Omikron, Xi is said to have personally vetoed it.

Now Zero Covid is actually over, but not in an orderly way, but rather abruptly and haphazardly. The reason for this may have been the protests that took place in various cities in November. If people dare to take to the streets in a country where the opposition is rigorously suppressed, the outrage of the population must be enormous.

ideology instead of pragmatism

So far the deviation from the previous teaching is understandable. That doesn’t make the circumstances and willingness to put up with countless deaths any less irrational. Xi Jinping probably believes he can afford it, as he was able to solidify his power at the party congress in October and enthrone himself as de facto ruler for life.

His tenure to date has been marked by increasing ideologizing and a departure from the relative pragmatism that has long characterized Chinese politics. The public humiliation of his predecessor Hu Jinato at the end of the party congress was a signal in that direction. But that doesn’t just make China irrational, it also makes it dangerous.

threats and provocations

This refers less to the risk that a new virus variant develops that could evade the defense protection. On the contrary, China is becoming geopolitically unpredictable. This can be seen, for example, in the support for Russia in the war in Ukraine. Xi Jinping seems to be using just about any means to destabilize the West.

But the biggest concern is in Taiwan. Threats and provocations against the “renegade” island have become more serious in recent months. Beijing announced military maneuvers on Sunday. Within 24 hours, 71 Chinese aircraft and seven ships were spotted near Taiwan.

Escalation or relaxation?

Officially, it was in response to the decision of the US Congress to grant new loans to Taiwan to buy weapons. However, experts are increasingly assuming that Xi Jinping could order an invasion of Taiwan sooner rather than later. He has openly threatened to use violence to bring the island of democracy to its knees.

The course of the war in Ukraine could prevent him from doing so. And recently there have also been signs of easing. For example, Xi held out normalization vis-à-vis Australia last week. In April 2020, the Australians called for an international investigation into the outbreak of the corona pandemic, to which China responded with sanctions.

On Monday, Xi was quoted in the state media for the first time about the new way of dealing with Corona. Accordingly, he asked the authorities to do everything “possible” to save lives. That doesn’t make the radical U-turn any less irrational. For the rest of the world, it is more than ever a reason to be careful when dealing with the People’s Republic.