Shanghai's Covid lockdown risks becoming biggest crisis of Xi's tenure

Pets beaten to death. Parents forced to separate from their children. Elderly folks unable to access medical care. Locked-up residents chanting “we want to eat” and “we want freedom.”

As much of the world moves on from the pandemic, the desperate scenes seeping out of China’s most global city have shocked even citizens who were once staunch supporters of President Xi Jinping’s Covid Zero strategy to eliminate the virus. The struggle to obtain daily necessities like food and medical care has triggered rare pushback from residents, with some saying the Communist Party’s cure is worse than the disease.

“In this country it’s not the virus that scares us, but the chaotic anti-Covid measures that have caused risks to the well-being of the elderly, the children and companion animals,” said Lily Chen, who lives in Shanghai with her three cats. “I now realise we can only rely on ourselves — not the government — to protect our own families.”

Another Shanghai resident, Regina Li, said she had long supported the government broke down in tears after seeing social-media posts of a virus-control worker beating a dog to death.

The growing angst risks becoming one of the biggest challenges to Xi perhaps since he took power in 2012, and comes just months before he’s expected to secure a precedent-breaking third term at a twice-a-decade party congress later this year. The outbreak has virtually immobilised one of China’s most sophisticated and recognisable cities, with businesses shuttered and factories of companies like Tesla halting production. 

Although the Communist Party remains firmly in control, the rare grassroots criticism undercuts Xi’s ability to trumpet his Covid-19 strategy as evidence of China’s superior model of governance — a key justification for him to stay in power. China’s Foreign Ministry has blasted the US and Europe for allowing so many deaths, saying Xi’s policy was “beyond reproach.”

The Communist Party is feeling the heat. On Wednesday it issued a rare call imploring rank-and-file members to help contain the coronavirus in Shanghai.

“We must dare to draw our swords and fight against all kinds of behaviours that interfere with and undermine the overall situation of the fight against the epidemic,” the party’s top branch in Shanghai wrote to members in an open letter. Still, even that was met with scorn from some internet users.

Weibo user Ah Dai Is Speechless wrote, “we don’t see anything but chaos, disorder & discrimination.”