Coronavirus: Thread

[grarpamp]

COVID dissenters in China's Govt... to coup, or be disappeared...


China Paralyzed As Feud Erupts Between Xi And Li Over Covid Response

For the past several months there had been rumors that a quiet feud
had erupted within Beijing's top echelons, the result of disagreement
within the communist party whether Xi Jinping's "zero covid" policy
was the proper solution for the country of 1.4 billion and which two
and a half years ago unleashed the coronavirus plague on the world.
Well, now it's official because as Bloomberg reported this morning,
China finds itself gripped by "discord" at the very top level, with
president Xi and premier Li on opposite sides of the the "zero covid"
ring.

As Bloomberg notes, shortly after Premier Li Keqiang held the
previously discussed "rare" video call with thousands of Chinese
officials across the nation to warn of an even worse economic crisis
than two years ago, and calling on them to better balance Covid
controls and economic growth, those same government officials charged
with implementing policy at the ground level found themselves stumped
and unsure whether they should still listen to: supreme leader Xi -
who continues to emphasize the need for officials to push for zero
Covid-19 cases - or Li, who continuously urges them to bolster the
economy and hit preordained growth targets.

This apparent dilemma has led to paralysis within a nation normally
hailed for speedy implementation of orders from above, Bloomberg
reports, citing eight unnamed senior local government officials.

While analysts saw Li’s impromptu meeting as an attempt to strengthen
consensus on the urgency to revive the economy, four senior officials
said it did little to change their view that controlling the Covid
outbreak still took priority: "One said that from a personal career
perspective, a cadre’s hard work means nothing if they fail to contain
an outbreak, while the upside for kicking off economic projects was
limited."

For a glaring example of just how deep the schism within China's core
runs, one should look at who did not attend Li’s mammoth meeting -
which brought together cadres right down to the county level,
featuring officials from nearly all government departments including
propaganda, environment, and utilities, according to notices on
county-level government websites - the top-ranking Communist Party
official for many cities was absent because they had to focus on
ensuring Covid control, said a BBG source, adding that it signaled
that pandemic work still trumped the economy. Attendance for party
heads wasn’t mandatory.

Which is bad news for Li who is tasked with restoring the economy...
without actually being allowed to do anything:

    “He is being put in the impossible position of trying to rescue
the economy without being able to adjust the one policy -- zero-Covid
-- that is causing the most economic damage,” McArver said, referring
to Li.

For Li, who will depart the post of China's second in command next
March, the stakes couldn't be higher: the Chinese Communist Party
prepares to hold a twice-a-decade leadership conclave later this year,
where Xi is expected to win a landmark third term, yet where rumor
also has it some of his challengers are sharpening their knives if
covid is still uncontained and if the economy remains a complete mess.
The top party ranks will also be reshuffled, clearing the way for
other cadres to move up the ladder if they can avoid any missteps,
particularly in handling Covid outbreaks.

Li warned on Wednesday, when he delivered his starkest warnings about
the economy’s weak performance, Beijing is facing another economic
crisis with “difficulties in some aspects, to a certain extent, are
greater than when the epidemic hit us severely in 2020.”