Scientific mindset

As the Chinese authorities ease Covid-19 controls and infections increase, hearsays about symptoms, treatments and folk remedies are widespread. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing looks at why people fall for these baseless rumours and remain wary of the government’s responses.

Following the protests against harsh Covid measures, China seems to be going from strict lockdowns to opening up and relaxing controls almost overnight. While the health system is under strain and nerves are wrecked, the Chinese people have shown that they are quite capable of adapting to change, especially if large cities like Beijing lead the way.

Chinese academic Zhang Tiankan explains why some estimates that China's reopening without safeguards could result in 1.5 million to 2 million deaths is improbable if one looks at the facts. Such predictions could cause public alarm and mislead policy making.

After an almost three-year-long hyper-restrictive “zero-Covid” policy, the Chinese government seems to have finally relented. But for China to comprehensively revamp its Covid-19 control regime and fully reopen, some daunting challenges remain.

Taiwanese academic Wen-Hsuan Tsai notes that while the late former Chinese President Jiang Zemin had pushed forward economic development during his tenure, he had neglected political reform, and in so doing, possibly paved the way for ever greater centralised rule in China.

The Chinese central government has not mentioned the “dynamic zero-Covid” policy as of late, sparking hopes that it will further ease Covid-19 control measures. With public anger boiling over in the form of protests in several cities, more signs of easing are needed. The path to reopening will not be smooth, but Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong notes that any form of progress towards normalcy would be reassuring for the Chinese people.

Zaobao correspondent Yu Zeyuan looks at how Covid controls have changed — or not — in various places in China following the announcement of the new 20 measures to ease Covid controls. Going by the measures implemented, it seems that lockdowns and testing seem to still be the default in curbing Covid in China.

China's renowned virologist Guan Yi has reappeared in public as the newly appointed chief of the Shanghai Virus Research Institute, after being denounced for his alarmist views of the pandemic at the start of its outbreak and speaking against the zero-Covid measures. But now, will his return mark an end to the harsh restrictions that have left the Chinese economy in a dire state?

The recent conviction of former Harvard department head Charles Lieber has cast the spotlight once again on China’s Thousand Talents Plan to attract global scientific talent to contribute their expertise to China. The American scientific community is pushing back against some of the US government’s harsh reprisals, but Hu Hao says strong action is warranted as the threat of authoritarian regimes seeking to gain technical knowledge to threaten democratic and liberal values is real.