IMO, ejecting the foreigners was the explicit intent of those draconian lockdowns. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Shanghai and HK have large concentrations of them polluting the purity of the Han race (otherwise known as “taking our jobs and our women”). Now that they’ve served their purpose - delivering all of the Western IP that got China up to speed - it’s time for them to go.
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Yep 3 days after arrival testing positive= they caught it on the plane most likely or still in Shanghai. Zero covid has nothing to do with covid itself. Tests in China gotta show what they’re supposed to show…
Considering the maze of pathways that IKEA sets up in its stores, it is a perfect place to test people’s skills like a mouse looking for the exit, and a perfect place to trap people when shutting down immediately.
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They’re actually locking people inside stores? This is getting really fecking bizarre, even for China. I suppose that’s what happens when a government has absolute power and nobody says “um, wait a second, you can’t do that”.
It’s a testament to the power of China’s security apparatus that people aren’t fighting back. I wonder at what point they’ll figure they have nothing left to lose?
Curious if anyone in media or elsewhere considered that Shanghai is specifically encountering such actions due to “sparring” with the “Shanghai faction (Z.Z-m.)”. Who knows.
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I don’t care much for their cafe, but on the plus side at least there would be furniture to sleep on!
Guy
Just got back from a dance class with my kid. All the other kids kept their masks on throughout. The Chinese public feel playing sports in masks is nuts but Taiwanese parents continue to force their kids.
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I also get the impression that China is far less strict on this particular aspect, surprisingly. I see quite a lot of photos of trade and company events in China for some editing I do, in addition to photos from friends on WeChat, and it’s rare that people are wearing masks in those, even for large indoor group photos and government officials.
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China is screwed. Covid or no Covid. Their internal economy is collapsing. They’ve ruined their trade relationships with all of their major trading partners and a large number of major manufacturing companies. All the latest assessments are pointing to a massive collapse in the Chinese economy. Even after all this time they still haven’t set up the necessary infrastructure, you know things like hospitals and treatment centers, to deal with Covid. If there were any medium scale outbreak the health system would collapse. Add to that their vaccination rates and it’s a very worrying picture.
Where are health systems collapsing?
They don’t have the necessary health systems to deal with Covid outbreaks. That’s why they’re keeping with zero Covid. Well that plus their Chinese vaccines don’t work.
Nowhere in the world except at the beginning in Wuhan and due to screwed up policies regarding elderly homes in Italy did the hospital infrastructure ever collapse - especially since delta, but even more omicron that will not happen anymore.
China is doing some trade war here plus letting Europe/USA slowly feel a bit what a world without Chinese products would look like. It’s most likely related to finding a strategy how to get the west accept Taiwan takeover. The thing is - China wants Taiwan for the industry, especially chip industry. But for that industry to keep on working it needs to continue getting software/firmware and some hardware from companies like ASML. You can bet ASML has some remote kill switches in their firmwares. So China needs to be in a position of such economical dominance that the west can only accept them taking over Taiwan (and not unlikely South Korea a bit later so they can rule the world by industrial output - and everyone will have to accept Chinese world dominance).
So what happens right now in China is only about geopolitics, it hasn’t got the smallest thing to do with this cold called Covid.
So many people left China and tested positive on arrival for Covid in other countries - clearly their tests only show what the government wants them to show.
China is preparing for eventual war, just look at their other policies like no more visas, cutting foreign investments and so on. It’s just that China isn’t ready yet. They will have to decide later if they actually attack Taiwan but right now they are moving ahead with geopolitical preparation. E.g. installing pipelines for Gas/Oil from Russia to get independent from middle east oil/gas imports in a war scenario. The better China looks prepared for war and the more they look like being able to win a war (economic war as well as actual war) the more likely it will be for Europe/USA to be only able to accept Chinas demands.
And vaccines have nothing to do with it either. The Chinese vaccines worked as well as the mRNA stuff, basically not at all and negative since omicron (before they worked for 60+ population). That’s why Africa and Co. without vaccines actually did better.
And yes China clearly has some sort of mass immunity like the rest of the world from infection already (which is much more effective than from vaccines).
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My guess is that there are internal political goals too. Chinese people must come to believe that the State is all-powerful, all-seeing, and above the Law. These “lockdowns” are deliberately frightening (and fundamentally pointless) pour encourager les autres.
I’m absolutely baffled that some people genuinely think that this has something to do with COVID, and continue to spin ridiculous stories about health systems being “overwhelmed” by people with a cough and a headache. I wouldn’t say omicron is comparable to either a cold or the flu in terms of symptoms, but in terms of clinical severity it’s clearly having no impact on healthcare services except in countries with serious pre-existing public-health issues (Canada and the US, mostly).
A friend posted this. Apparently it’s from Chengdu, and the cat came into contact with a positive case (that’s a human case, not another cat).
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I want to import them. There is an untapped market in Taiwan.
Well that’s one benefit of Zero Covid. I believe every single person has to take the PCR test every couple of days in order to access public transports, etc. I am not here to say that Zero Covid is obviously SUPERIOR!!! But saying it’s all cons with no pros is not quite right either. Didn’t Taiwan used to be like that in 2020?
You don’t need to be a Covid Zero idiot to take masks off.
I do get your point though. Taiwan is doing some stupid middle ground way. No real benefit but a pain in the arse for everyone involved.
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Poor baby.
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Following up on developments in Chengdu . . . the situation does not look great. 
Guy
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