“We are back to a period worse than the Cultural Revolution”, estimated Tuesday, May 3 on franceinfo Marie Holzman, sinologist, president of the Solidarité Chine association. Beijing is tightening restrictions, including the closure of restaurants and the upcoming obligation to present a negative test within 48 hours to access public places.
franceinfo: How do you explain these restrictions?
Mary Holzmann: It is a strategy that was decided by Xi Jinping and he is the absolute totalitarian president of China. So, we can’t go back, especially since he said that China has done better than all the other countries and has been able to curb the epidemic. So it would be ridiculous if he were to back down. In addition, we are not allowed to speak of a certain number of cases, such as that of the doctor who died in February 2020 when he had announced a very serious epidemic.
The strategy seems to have worked well, but is it as effective with variants?
We can clearly see that this no longer works and the way it is applied, particularly in Shanghai, is absurd. It is the police forces who intervene, snatch people from their homes to put them in places of confinement and it is not clear whether they are positive or not. They are all crammed together in places without hygiene, without care, without medication and where the light is on all night. It’s a bit like being in jail. We are back to a period worse than the Cultural Revolution.
The Chinese population is less well immunized today than in other countries. If China lifts its strategy, will it have to face a major wave of contamination?
The problem is more complicated. The Chinese have refused messenger RNA vaccines, they have set up a Sinovac system which does not work. The Omicron variant, we see it with us, is more aggressive but not that dangerous in most cases. So China could very well lift its zero Covid status but it refuses. If they used messenger RNA vaccines, it would take at least 6 months before they could vaccinate the majority of the elderly. They are phenomenally late and they refuse to accept it.
Why did the Chinese give priority to vaccinating workers rather than the oldest people?
It was to maintain the Chinese economy, but they end up with the opposite result since all the factories in Shanghai are closed. People are not allowed to leave their homes. A city of 25 million people is at a standstill. Ships in the port of Shanghai, which are reportedly 700-800, cannot unload or load. This is going to have a serious impact on the global economy.