제 14 호 Sticking with Zero COVID-19 Led Shanghai to Lock Down
Kicker: WORLD
Sticking with Zero COVID-19 Led Shanghai to Lock Down
by Ji-Min Baek, Cub-reporter / Do-Hyuk Kim, Reporter
pjm5875@naver.com / ndapple0921@gmail.com
While the “Living with COVID-19” is trending around the world and the policies that have been tightened ever since COVID-19 first showed up are easing one by one, China is still insisting on complete eradication of the coronavirus. It is a policy that runs counter to all other nations around the globe.Before we dive into backgrounds and the reason why this policy is so stubborn, finding about Chinese-style quarantine should be preceded. The Chinese way of controlling over 1.3 billion Chinese people is to completely shutdown the area where COVID-19 patients appear, and also can be characterized by its merciless execution. Extensive tests deploying nucleic acid are being held for every single person living in the specific area combined with continuous isolation of close contacts and medical observations. The reason why China shows such Chinese-style quarantine characteristics is that it uses its own vaccines, so the infection prevention rate is known to be much lower than that of mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna. Also, in China, intensive care units are half that of Korea, and one-third of the U.S., that is lacking. Therefore, if COVID-19 patients occur on a large scale, it is difficult to handle them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61461099
Why Zero Covid Policy?
The reason why China is insisting on Zero Covid can be divided into three main aspects: economic, Chinese reality, and politics. When countries around the world suffered economic damage last year, China was an exception. China also has suffered some partial damage on domestic demands during the strict quarantine, but comparison between other regions and China made struck on Chinese economy considerably smaller and the scale of the problem seemed minute in terms of daily lives of Chinese citizens. In addition, as seen above, there is a medical resource problem in China. Medical resources in China are relatively more poor than advanced countries and are concentrated in large cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, so if a large-scale COVID-19 situation occurs, it cannot be properly handled. Finally there is the issue of politics. Living with COVID-19 is also being talked about in China. However, a famous Chinese doctor who brought up the story, was criticized as a “western front dog.” Opponents of living with COVID-19 in China are criticizing the living with COVID-19, emphasizing that China is better at controlling COVID-19 infections better than the West.
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/27/1089107011/china-shanghai-covid-lockdown
Ongoing Catastrophe in Shanghai Seems Endless
Nationwide Zero-COVID policy made major cities of China to shut down indefinitely, and Shanghai could be no exception. Shanghai’s recent spread of COVID-19 exceeded a dangerous level, so the Chinese government had to get cracking. Because of this tenacious obsession on shrinking down the number of Chinese infections to zero, authorities of the Chinese Communist Party imposed a complete lockdown on Shanghai. This decision was first made on March 28th, and immediately became a hot potato worldwide while saturating headlines of major media globally because of Shanghai’s big share of the Chinese economy.
Lockdown of Shanghai made more than twenty-six million people locked into their homes, all of factories placed in Shanghai had to shut their production lines, and public security officers began hunting down any mole trying to escape their cages. This shutdown was possible only because the Chinese government consists of a single Communist party, and they dictate all of pending issues nationwide. Chinese army began disguising in public security officers and soon surged on ruling downtown Shanghai as they wish being accompanied by violence. Video containing public security officers attacking an innocent, single person as a mob spread quickly on the internet, encouraging furious populations of Shanghai to eventually make some actions in groups as well. Families which haven’t stored enough food to withstand weeks prematurely are suffering from famine even today, which drove others around the globe completely shocked since it makes no sense in one of the biggest economic capitals in 2022. Shops selling leftover goods were stolen rapidly by people endangered with hunger, and the whole episode reminded us of a riot. Protests began occurring with people battering rice pots desperate for something to eat, but the Shanghai lockdown is not yet resolved currently. These peaceful yet effective protests wowed international society, bringing back memories of Tianmen Square in 1989.
Despite Shanghai Being Overseas, Problems Belong to Us Too
Lockdown not only made an impact on Shanghai residents, but also to South Korea and Koreans spending time in Shanghai as well. Because all of facilities even including that is directly liked to economy had to shut down, accessing major ports of Shanghai is denied for everyone. Ships currently locked in Shanghai’s ports are containing both raw materials for producing consumer goods and goods which are already ran through production, making product delivery cycle even longer than before. Korea’s top-selling automobile manufacturer Hyundai-Kia group reported that nearly all models currently on sale requires around one year of waiting to fetch key of the vehicle because of COVID-19, and things are just about to get even worse. Korean undergraduates studying in Shanghai and Korean workers which visited Shanghai for business trip are also locked in Shanghai alongside Chinese residents, too. In order to escape from Shanghai, foreigners must belong to an infection unable to be cured in China or death of family. Otherwise, there are no exception and Chinese authorities constantly refuse to return their passports they have collected when they entered China. When escaping from Shanghai is confirmed by the Chinese government, they should book a flight returning to Korea and get once again PCR test before they leave Shanghai. Hardships don’t end there, though. Returning flight is only available in morning on Monday or Friday and disinfected taxis that bring them to the airport leave them at night before the flight. They should spend the night at the airport without any proper facility for sleeping, experiencing lifestyle of homeless people. Shanghai lockdown firstly seemed like China’s domestic problem, but news soon revealed that our nation is under strong influence as well.
COVID-19 has transformed our lives dramatically and differentiated the way global authorities deal with blocking its diffusion. Some nations, especially European countries, adopted “Living with COVID-19” policy earlier than others. China, by contrast, is still attempting to completely eradicate the coronavirus under their territory. Shanghai lockdown shows Chinese government’s eagerness to boast their superiority against democratic superpowers, but countless people are suffering because of their greed. We hope for the Shanghai lockdown to be resolved as soon as possible, and also the complete annihilation of COVID-19 virus comes true very soon.
Sources:
https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/25023689
https://imnews.imbc.com/replay/2022/nwdesk/article/6369996_35744.html
https://www.mk.co.kr/news/world/view/2022/04/377035
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61461099 (Image)
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/27/1089107011/china-shanghai-covid-lockdown (Image)
