BEIJING – China on Thursday accused “some Western media outlets” of bias, slander and political manipulation in their coverage of China’s abrupt end to its strict “zero-COVID” policy, as it issued a staunch defense of measures to prepare for the policy change.
December’s move to end mass testing and quarantines led to a sharp rise in cases, with some hospitals and crematoria overwhelmed with victims.
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An editorial for the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily outlined what it called China’s “optimization and control measures” and devastated reports by media outlets that failed to identify them as “completely biased hype, slander and political manipulation with ulterior motives.”
Since the first wave of new cases, life has largely returned to normal across much of China, although officials have expressed concerns about further spread of the virus in the countryside during the Lunar New Year travel rush now underway.
Still, the editorial said many places “have passed the peak of the epidemic and production and life are accelerating to return to normal.”
“Zero-COVID,” as the strategy became known, attempted to trace and isolate every case of infection, along with those who had been in contact with them and even third-hand contacts. It confined millions of people in cities like Shanghai to their homes for two months or more, many suffering from food shortages and lack of access to medical care.
China strongly defended the policy but began dismantling amid economic pressures and after the outbreak of extremely rare street protests in Beijing and other major cities denouncing the ruling party and its leader Xi Jinping. On Jan. 8, it took the next step of removing the requirement for foreign arrivals to undergo lengthy and costly quarantines.
China dismissed both foreign and domestic criticism of the excesses of the policy and denounced previous calls by the World Health Organization to adapt to changes in the nature of the virus, calling it “irresponsible”.
That made the abrupt mid-winter switch to a policy that seeks only to prevent the most serious cases all the more staggering for the populace, many of whom have defied censorship to vent their anger online. Testing stations where long lines of people had stood in lines disappeared almost overnight, whereas field hospitals used to quarantine millions in one pack.
China also stopped releasing figures on new cases and deaths, which have long been suspected to be underreported, prompting further complaints from the WHO and other nations about a lack of transparency. Unconfirmed estimates put the number of new cases in the tens of thousands a day, with up to 85% of the population infected in some provinces.
China has also rejected calls to release more data and provide more information on the origin of the virus, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, accusing the claimants of “politicizing” the issue.
The government has also cracked down on countries that require travelers from China to present a negative virus test, calling the requirement “discriminatory” even though it requires the same from anyone entering China.
This defensive stance was reflected in the People’s Daily editorial, which said, “Thanks to meticulous medical preparations, sufficient production capacity reserves, and strong organizational planning and equipment, China has smoothly weathered the adjustment period after the ‘transition’ and ‘postponement’ of epidemic prevention policies.” .”
“Given China’s achievements in prevention and control, any political manipulation is pale and powerless,” she added, citing support from academics in Nigeria, Kenya and Russia, all of China’s close diplomatic partners.
“All parties should focus on fighting the epidemic itself, avoiding words or actions that politicize the epidemic, strengthening solidarity and cooperation, and working together to defeat the epidemic,” the editorial said.
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