Zero-Covid in China key to Xi Jinping's legacy as he eyes third term

Beijing, Oct 6, 2022 -For many in China, years of gruelling lockdowns and privacy invasions aimed at extinguishing Covid have caused misery. His zero-tolerance approach to Covid has become synonymous with the efforts to cement his authority over China and its ruling Communist Party. Xi has dug in his heels, declaring zero-Covid China's most "Economic and effective" path forward, while maintaining policies that have deepened the state's control over the lives of its 1.4 billion people. Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, said the Covid-monitoring apparatus was "In line with the model of social control" spearheaded by Xi. - 'No choice' - China argues zero-Covid places human life above material concerns and has helped to avert the public health crises seen in other countries. China has reported just over 5,000 Covid deaths compared with more than a million in the United States. "There is this mentality that we did such a wonderful job in 2020 and 2021... if we do nothing and a huge number of people get infected, that basically gives away all you have achieved," he told AFP. Many in China speak favourably of zero-Covid, with Fu of the Brookings Institution saying state propaganda had convinced most people of the need to cut cases "At all human and economic costs". Airline engineer Ian Jiang has spent 200 days in isolation hotels throughout the pandemic, and China continues to enforce quarantines for overseas arrivals of up to two weeks.