Only in a country where people are denied the right to choose their political leaders could a pandemic emerge to kill millions globally and the president be set to serve another term in office like nothing happened.
China’s ruling Communist Party will convene its 20th Party Congress on October 16, where President Xi Jinping will doubtless be anointed to a precedent-breaking third term.
There will be no top-level accountability for the Chinese authorities’ initial coverup of the new virus that helped fuel a global pandemic, nor for its obstructionism and secrecy that hindered the world’s ability to understand and combat its spread.
That Xi’s government has also instituted draconian measures to combat Covid-19 that are wildly unpopular in China will also not matter to Xi’s pending party coronation.
The abusive “zero-Covid” policy is, in fact, a perfect example of the party’s authoritarian rule under Xi. They imposed repeated, unpredictable lockdowns on hundreds of millions of people even as effective therapeutics and vaccines for Covid-19 became available.
These draconian measures have impeded people’s access to health care, food, and other life necessities. An unknown number of people died after being denied medical treatment for non-Covid-related illnesses.
In unimaginable despair, some have jumped to their death at the mass quarantine sites or from residential buildings under lockdown.
The lockdowns also caused economic harm, forcing businesses to downsize or close, cutting jobs and wages. Yet, there is little sign authorities are lifting restrictions like lockdowns and prolonged quarantines.
Of course, without freedom of speech and independent media, people in China can’t easily complain about this mistreatment and misrule. And they have no democratic means to prevent the man behind it from staying in power and continuing the abuses.