The Communist Party of China may have softened its zero Covid approach when it comes to restrictions across the country but the politicians continue to emphasise that the decisions taken by President Xi Jinping were completely correct and they will “stand the test of history”.
China was forced to go back on most of its tough COVID-19 restrictions following protests in different parts of the country and the resultant pressure from outside countries to not use force in reply.
The People’s Daily newspaper – the mouthpiece of the Communist Party – had a lengthy defence of the government strategies on its first page and even asked the citizens to keep their trust in the government. It also pointed out the strategies “won precious time” in controlling the infections.
“After three years of efforts, we have the conditions, mechanisms, systems, teams and medicine to lay the foundation for an all-round victory in the fight against the epidemic,” the article said.
The government had earlier launched massive attempts at controlling the narrative on social media with special focus on comments posted by users on platforms like WeChat and Weibo. The article also spoke about the “misinformation” and “disinformation” on social media and said that the abrupt shift in the Covid policy has made it difficult for the country to find proper footing.
“With the weakening of the pathogenicity of Omicron variant, widespread vaccination, and the accumulation of experience in prevention and control, we have formulated 20 optimization measures and 10 new optimization measures in a timely manner to minimize the impact of the epidemic on socioeconomic development,” the article explained according to Bloomberg.
