China: Criticism of Shanghai Lockdown Meant to ‘Delude’ People into Not Fearing Coronavirus

China’s state-run Global Times pushed back against a rising tide of international criticism and domestic discontent Sunday by insisting the brutal lockdown imposed on Shanghai is appropriate and necessary for containing the Omicron coronavirus outbreak, and reports of misery from the lockdown are Western media exaggerations intended to “delude the Chinese public.”

The Global Times sneered that Western criticisms of China’s draconian “zero-Covid” lockdown policies are just an “over-simplified” attempt to trivialize the omicron variant as “just a big flu.” 

“Experts believed that hyping this falsified notion is a trick used by some in the West to delude the Chinese public and attempt to weaken China’s adherence to the zero-COVID strategy, which could easily cause havoc in Chinese society,” the Chinese Communist newspaper raved.

Omicron is widely seen as more virulent but far less deadly than the original Wuhan coronavirus strain or its delta variant, fueling criticism that Beijing is wildly overreacting to the Shanghai outbreak and will nevertheless be unable to stamp out the disease with lockdowns because it is so highly contagious.

The Global Times claimed some Chinese epidemiologists have concluded omicron is more dangerous than previous variants, contrary to the experience of the rest of the world. The article printed quotes from various health officials nattering that everything is under control in Shanghai, even though a lockdown that was supposed to be imposed in stages and last only a few days has now been extended to the entire population of 26 million and just entered its third week.

After months of talking about “herd immunity” as the explanation for China’s suspiciously low case counts and hospitalization numbers, the Global Times said Chinese epidemiologists have suddenly discovered herd immunity does not exist, so iron lockdowns are the only way to contain omicron outbreaks. The article tap-danced around the embarrassing ineffectiveness of Chinese vaccines by claiming Westerners acquired “immunity through large-scale infections, which also resulted in the loss of many lives.”

“China’s determination to stick to dynamic zero-COVID will not waver or be swayed by attacks or unfounded criticisms. The country will prove it can explore a way out of the pandemic, with minimal cost and sacrifices,” declared National Health Commission Wang Guiqiang.

On Monday, the Global Times editorialized that “dynamic zero-Covid” lockdowns are “the only way out of the current complex situation.”

“Practice has repeatedly shown that the key to winning the battle against the epidemic is to adhere to the general dynamic zero-Covid policy without hesitation and unswervingly implement the guidance to cope with the ravaging virus,” the editorial declared, blithely ignoring that coronavirus cases in Shanghai are still increasing, even as the imprisoned residents of the city totter on the verge of mutiny, starvation, and suicide.

As in Sunday’s piece, the Monday editorial hammered Chinese Communist talking points that the West is trying to trick China into abandoning its harsh containment policies by claiming “omicron is a big flu” and the rest of the world is “successfully coexisting with the virus.”

The Global Times sneered that the Western approach amounts to “cruel social Darwinism” – i.e. make society stronger by letting the weak die off – and insisted China cannot “lie flat” and relent on its coronavirus policies because it has so many children and elderly to think of. Children are at very little risk from any variant of the Wuhan coronavirus. Elderly people are, but China notoriously miscalculated by leaving older people with very low vaccination rates.

“Over the past two years, it is just because of the firm adherence to the principle of people first and life first, and to the scientifically and precisely dynamic zero-COVID policy, that China has managed to maximize the protection of people’s lives and health, while maintaining global leadership in economic development as well as epidemic prevention and control,” the Global Times boasted.

Chinese Communist Party propagandists have good reason to think public faith in their “dynamic zero-Covid” strategies is slipping. 

Other large cities are growing nervous as the Shanghai horror unfolds. The southern port city of Guangzhou rushed to head off stampedes at grocery stores by promising that adequate food has been stockpiled for residents. Guangzhou just shut down its schools for a week and began mandatory testing for all 18 million residents – just as Shanghai began with mandatory testing and slipped quickly into full lockdown, clearly without creating stockpiles of food or medicine.