China: the turn of the press in the face of COVID-19 after years of alarming the population

Until recently, the Chinese press described the COVID-19 as a very dangerous disease and criticized the chaotic management of the pandemic abroad. But now that China seems to be ending its drastic “zero covid” policy, the virus seems less serious.

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“Don’t be too scared, but take some precautions” against the virus, the Beijing Youth Daily, the capital’s state newspaper, told its readers in recent days, along with testimonies from convalescents.

In this communist country where the press is almost exclusively under state control, the media have been quick to follow the new official line, a week after historic demonstrations against sanitary restrictions.

For almost three years, Beijing has applied a strict health policy that includes repeated confinements and almost daily PCR tests. But the weariness that brought people to the streets has made the authorities soften these measures.

President Xi Jinping himself acknowledged that the omicron variant is “less lethal” and that raises the possibility of “more openness in the restrictions.”

“With an infection of the omicron variant, the vast majority of people will have no or very mild symptoms, and very few will have severe (symptoms), this is already well known,” said Professor of Medicine Chong Yutian, from Guangzhou, in an article published in the China Youth Daily.

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possible punishments

It is a radical change in relation to the norm in force until now.

“This is a kind of official propaganda to prepare the population for more flexibility and give the government the means to withdraw (from the ‘zero covid’ policy)”, Willy Lam, a Hong Kong-based expert on Chinese politics, told AFP.

The press thus makes it possible to prepare the ground, also in the face of possible punitive measures against local authorities, criticized for applying the restrictions too strictly.

The body in charge of the response to the pandemic warned on Saturday in the People’s Daily that local officials who committed excesses will be “strictly held accountable.”

“Many local officials will be punished”predicts Lam.

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On Saturday, a first example already took place: in the province of Hunan (center), a local security official was expelled from the Communist Party and fired for having assaulted a resident in an altercation related to the confinement.

The companies in charge of the tests are also in the crosshairs of the authorities, after state media reported that they had committed several violations.

These companies “will be the first to be sacrificed by the government,” tweeted Chinese blogger Jing Zhao, under the pseudonym Michael Anti.

the good of the population

For the Chinese government, this turnaround after almost three years of alarmist propaganda about the virus will not be easy and will likely indicate that it is for the good of the population.

After several local authorities announced that the elderly and those who rarely leave home would be exempted from mass PCRs, the official Xinhua news agency was quick to say that this measure was proof that “the government responds to the requests of the people.

The Communist Party of China “admits that the zero covid policy endangered a fundamental pillar of its legitimacy: its promise to propose a minimum standard of living to citizens”, Diana Fu, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, analyzes for AFP.

According to her, easing health restrictions is part of the party’s traditional strategy, which consists of responding to protests with “the carrot and stick policy.”

“When the security apparatus is put in place to repress the protesters, local governments also make concessions in terms of easing anti-covid restrictions, to drop the pressure.”

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.