How will China’s ‘zero-Covid’ policy affect public support for the government? It’s complicated

South China Morning Post ^ | 29 Oct, 2022 | Lijia Zhang

[nickcarraway]

Has China’s handling of Covid-19 increased the government’s popularity or decreased it? I find the question fascinating and confusing.

When the authorities first placed Wuhan under lockdown in their effort to contain the outbreak of the virus, people in the West watched the stringent measures with a mixture of amazement and disgust. In China, however, the pandemic has actually boosted the government’s popularity, or at least that was the case until recently.

Cary Wu, an assistant professor of sociology from York University, and his team conducted a large-scale online survey in April 2020. It found that trust in all levels of government had increased, rising to 98 per cent in the national government and 91 per cent in township-level governments.

In some ways, the result wasn’t that surprising. The 2018 World Values Survey found that 95 per cent of Chinese citizens trusted their national government and 69 per cent their local government. In contrast, only around 20 per cent of Americans trusted their national government in the same year.

So, why is Chinese support so high? “First of all, China’s remarkable economic achievements convinced the citizens that their government is competent,” Wu told me in a recent Zoom interview. “Rising nationalism has also fuelled the trust. And of course, there’s propaganda or some may say the Chinese are being brainwashed.”

He added that the Chinese national psyche also played a role. “Compared to Westerners, Chinese people tend to respect hierarchy and authority.” I broadly agree with this analysis. The Chinese government’s ability to deliver public goods has earned it some legitimacy.

However, China’s “zero-Covid” strategy seems to have shaken some people’s trust.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

At first, I thought this was the Babylon Bee. Reminds me of some DemocRAT creepozoid that actually mentioned the word constituents while talking about China. Chicoms, like every other communist, socialist state have no citizens. They are ‘things’ to be used as the tyrants see fit. If today they can make an iPhone, fine. Tomorrow, the same 4,000 ‘workers’ could now be test tube material, have their organs harvested, etc. People are meat to democRATS and commies.