The move to lift Covid restrictions may have been in the works. There were two studies last fall, one from Singapore and one from Boston University, that showed Omicron was weak and would not result in increased hospitalizations. Because the protests had been ongoing for over a month, they also had the benefit of seeing how hospitalizations responded to a de facto opening.
Perhaps I don't read widely enough, but it seems that Xi's U-turn on managing COVID-19 has been under-commented upon. I thought the Chinese government was going to keep its head in the sand and ignore basic epidemiology for a good while yet. Given that I view China as a hostile and expansionist power, I'm not 100% happy to see its despot capable of changing his mind. As for moderating his tone against the US and the Western World, I'm going to need to see some concrete changes in behaviour (especially towards Taiwan) before I feel that Xi is doing a U turn...or even coming to a prolonged stop down a dangerous path....Thanks for an interesting read by the way.
The move to lift Covid restrictions may have been in the works. There were two studies last fall, one from Singapore and one from Boston University, that showed Omicron was weak and would not result in increased hospitalizations. Because the protests had been ongoing for over a month, they also had the benefit of seeing how hospitalizations responded to a de facto opening.
Perhaps I don't read widely enough, but it seems that Xi's U-turn on managing COVID-19 has been under-commented upon. I thought the Chinese government was going to keep its head in the sand and ignore basic epidemiology for a good while yet. Given that I view China as a hostile and expansionist power, I'm not 100% happy to see its despot capable of changing his mind. As for moderating his tone against the US and the Western World, I'm going to need to see some concrete changes in behaviour (especially towards Taiwan) before I feel that Xi is doing a U turn...or even coming to a prolonged stop down a dangerous path....Thanks for an interesting read by the way.
It didn't listen to basic epidemiology, it listened to massive popular protests which it's security apparatus cracked down on but could not quench.