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DaveLesh t1_ixsaszv wrote

Can't say this is a shock. China's government loves taking advantage of situations where they can control the masses.

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cartoonist498 t1_ixse9t3 wrote

Reason why China surpassing the US as the #1 economy was always a pipe dream. The success of their own people is a threat to China's authoritarian government.

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a1579 t1_ixsjyg8 wrote

I keep hearing this, but what's the plan here? Just lock people up as some kind of power trip?

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thedennisinator t1_ixtj2za wrote

No, you're right. The assertion that this is being done just for the sake of "controlling the masses" by itself is nonsense.

The lockdowns are continuing for practical and political reasons, namely:

  1. Most Chinese people are unvaccinated(due to refusing to import Pfizer and Moderna vaccines) and have no natural immunity. China has far fewer hospital beds per capita than the USA, so an outbreak would be a disaster like the 2021 delta variant outbreak in India.

  2. Xi Jingping spent the past 2 years loudly bragging to the Chinese people and the rest of the world that the CCP was the best government in the world because it was the only country that could sustain a Zero Covid policy. Now they have to keep Zero Covid going or else admit that they aren't any better than the governments they were criticizing before, and they have decided saving face is worth shutting down entire cities for months.

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boogrit t1_ixumeoy wrote

FWIW - Most Chinese people are vaccinated. Gets worse when you look at 60+ and 80+ age ranges. I think your statement is still accurate though, in the sense that the lack of vaccination for the most vulnerable population may be part of the cause of Zero Covid. WaPo has a good article on this.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/25/china-covid-infection-vaccines-outbreak/

"Just 40 percent of Chinese older than 80 have received a booster shot, despite months of campaigning and gift-gncourage uptake. (Among people older than 60, two-thirds have gotten a booster.)"

Restricting their vaccine from 19-60 during the early days may have created some stigma. There were also reports of blood clots for older folks, although I don't know any percentages.

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DaveLesh t1_ixsl9ig wrote

Probably. Couldn't be as worse as Putin whose sending his people to an early grave.

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MonicaZelensky t1_ixsrrp0 wrote

It's just hand waving. The CCP doesn't need excuses, it does what it wants

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Test19s t1_ixsiwox wrote

Hopefully someone tells Xi to chill before we get North Korea 2 or Chinese Civil War 2. Not a big fan of coups in general but one may be inevitable.

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DaveLesh t1_ixsjbyb wrote

Probably a Chinese Civil War. Kim Jong Un starves his people, they don't have the physical will to fight.

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