USCC Testimony on China’s Zero Covid Policy
Summary
The prevailing dynamic zero-COVID - or dynamic clearing - policy adopted by the Chinese leadership derives from its experience of dealing with the pandemic since January 2020. Typically, it involved unprecedented full lockdowns of cities despite considerable economic costs.
However, in recent times zero-COVID no longer implies zero infections but rather refers to identifying and eliminating infections, with the aim of preventing the spread of the coronavirus in the area of the outbreak and to other areas across the country.
The testimony posits a framework based on the three pillars of faith, fear and fruits as a tool in understanding the dynamics of the zero-COVID policy within the Communist Party of China (CPC), particularly the policy’s association with Xi Jinping and its relevance to the upcoming 20th Party Congress.
Faith: There is significant information to suggest that Xi commands tremendous ideological influence within the party system.
Fear: Xi continues to enjoy unparalleled authority within the system and over the last decade, he has concentrated power and cemented his hold on the party’s ideological, propaganda, security, organization and disciplinary organs. Therefore, where faith may be lacking, fear is likely to yield desired behavior.
Fruits: Performance legitimacy has been key to the CPC’s narrative justifying its continued rule. However, there is evidence of public frustration with repeated lockdowns, limitations with regard to access to public spaces, repeated testing, and policy uncertainty.
While dynamic zero-COVID policy is on firm ground when it comes to the first two pillars, contestation and experimentation with regard to fruits will likely continue, leading to adjustments and uncertainty in the coming future.
Among the recommendations for U.S. Congressional actions, the testimony suggests the following:
The US government should pursue the establishment of a Pandemic Research Hub and the development of a Public Health Intelligence Sharing Network within the Indo-Pacific, nestled within the Quad framework.
Congress must continue to work with the US government to build supply chain resilience through on-shoring, near-shoring and friend-shoring with like-minded partners, particularly with regard to critical sectors.
This testimony was given by Manoj Kewalramani, Fellow- China Studies & Chair Indo-Pacific Studies Programme before the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, as part of the hearing on “Challenges from Chinese Policy in 2022: Zero-COVID, Ukraine, and Pacific Diplomacy”.
Watch the livestream of the oral testimony here.
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