China yesterday accused “some Western media” of bias, smears and political manipulation in their coverage of its abrupt ending of its strict “zero COVID-19” policy, as it issued a vigorous defense of actions taken to prepare for the change of strategy.
Last month’s move to end mass testing and quarantines led to a sharp rise in cases, with some hospitals and crematoriums overwhelmed with victims.
An editorial in the People’s Daily outlined what it called China’s “optimization and control measures,” and criticized reports by media outlets it did not identify as “completely biased hype, smear and political manipulation with ulterior motives.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Since the initial wave of new cases, life in much of China has largely returned to normal, although officials have expressed concern about a further spread of the virus into the countryside during the Lunar New Year travel rush underway.
Despite that, the editorial said many localities have “passed the peak of the epidemic, and production and life are speeding up to return to normal.”
The “zero COVID-19” strategy sought to track and isolate every case of infection, along with those who had contact with them.
China strongly defended the policy, but began dismantling it under economic pressure and after rare street protests broke out in Beijing and other major cities denouncing the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
On Jan. 8, Beijing took the further step of eliminating the requirement that those arriving from abroad undergo lengthy and expensive quarantines.
That made the abrupt shift to a policy of merely seeking to prevent the most serious cases all the more jarring for the population, many of whom have defied censors to express anger online.
China also ceased publishing figures on new cases and deaths, which it had long been suspected of underreporting, leading to complaints from the WHO and foreign nations about a lack of transparency.
Estimates now put numbers of new cases at tens of thousands a day, with up to 85 percent of the population in some provinces having become infected.
That defensive attitude 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 passed the adaptation period after the ‘transition’ and ‘shift’ of the epidemic prevention policy.”
“In the face of China’s prevention and control achievements, any political manipulation is pale and powerless,” it added, citing endorsements from academics in Nigeria, Kenya and Russia, all close Chinese diplomatic partners. “All parties should focus on fighting the epidemic itself, avoid any words or deeds that politicize the epidemic, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, and work together to defeat the epidemic.”
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
RSS