Following Xi’s zero-Covid policy that resulted in unrest in the public and a sharp decline in the economy, some Chinese cities stepped ahead to take suitable measures in this regard and eased the rules for testing and quarantine, even after the Covid cases are at their peak.
Whilst current riots in China are not a danger to Communist party authority, they could harm Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s reputation. This is because Xi Jinping is hesitant to adopt western vaccines despite the difficulties China is encountering with Covid-19. Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, stated.
Haines, on Saturday, stated while addressing the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California, that despite the economic and social difficulties china is experiencing due to the Virus Xi “is unwilling to take a better vaccine from the West, and is instead relying on a vaccine in China that’s just not nearly as effective against Omicron”.
Haines added, “Seeing protests and the response to it is countering the narrative that he likes to put forward, which is that China is so much more effective at the government.”
“It’s, again, not something we see as being a threat to stability at this moment, or regime change or anything like that,” she continues to add: “How it develops will be important to Xi’s standing.”
According to experts, loosening virus cautions would cause severe damage. China selected locally made Covid Vaccines, instead of approving the international vaccines, which according to some research not as efficient as the foreign ones. Last week administrations in the cities of Guanzhou and Chongqing, where the protestors confronted the police, unexpectedly heaved the Covid limitations.
As the capital city discontinued requiring negative test results as a prerequisite to enter businesses like supermarkets, several testing booths in Beijing were closed. Officials also announced plans to boost the immunisation of elderly persons in an apparent effort to quell discontent over the zero-Covid policies that initially ignited the protests.
“It seems fairly far-fetched that China would greenlight western vaccines at this point. It’s a matter of national pride, and they’d have to swallow quite a bit of it if they went this route,” according to the official who told the sources.
