Thread by @WilliamYang120

"Nor are #China’s angry voices accusing party chiefs of having made a mistake by pursuing a zero-covid strategy until now. Rather, most are expressing disappointment at how badly it is working in #Shanghai and other cities, ...economist.com/china/2022/04/…

... and alarm at its spiralling economic and social costs."

"This draconian response was an own goal, as even relatively sheltered, apolitical netizens across the country were given a glimpse of censorship at work in real time."

"Yet as it is, images of Shanghainese being clubbed as they tear down fences do not by themselves mean that China’s machinery of power is misfiring.

Bossy, even arbitrary or irrational orders that must be obeyed are a feature of Communist Party rule working as intended, not a bug. "

"In China’s majoritarian system, minorities who resist the party’s will must be crushed. In other contexts those minorities may be ethnic, religious or ideological, or unlucky sorts in the way of a party priority."

"In all cases, dissent is treated as sabotage. Some anger on display in Shanghai arguably stems from locals’ shock at being on the wrong end of a minority-majority divide for once."

"Even those silenced “Voices of April” are hardly subversive. That video includes recordings of Shanghai citizens pleading for officials to admit loved ones to hospital or to distribute rations as promised."

"Instead of reckoning honestly with the trade-offs inherent in their strict approach, officials and propaganda outlets called it a wise and kindly choice that helps all Chinese people."

"Then those same official voices quickly pivoted back to their preferred pandemic narrative: the many downsides of covid responses in the West. Now, the disadvantages of China’s policies are in turn becoming hard to hide."

"Popular discontent matters when it gives cover to rival factions within the elite, allowing them to argue that poor performance is undermining the party’s claim to rule."

"A flawless 20th Party Congress for Mr Xi later this year may rest on eliminating all possible rivals, and making others carry the can if covid continues to batter China."