China’s COVID Policies

Will China make it through COVID? Over the past 3 years, China has been stuck working to eliminate COVID spread. Recently their actions to reach their goal caused multiple protests. 

A recent action called the “Zero Covid Policy” issued by the Chinese government has caused an uproar leading to protests across the nation. The policy consisted of a lockdown on covid;  for example, businesses and schools were shut down in lockdown areas, and stores closed unless they focused on selling food. There were other strategies employed as well, such as the deployment of drones to remind people to wear masks and stay at home. Though the policy is currently active, it has caused many problems, notably the rise in citizen deaths caused by other incidents besides covid. Reports have shown that the policy has prevented multiple lives from being saved. For example, it has been reported that 10 people died in an apartment fire, in part because lockdown restrictions prevented firefighters from reaching the people in time. 

The uproar in China over covid policies has led to unease worldwide. China is the world's biggest manufacturing nation and home to the second-largest economy in the world. Patricia Cohen, a New York Times Reporter, wrote, “Analysts warn that more unrest could further slow . . . machine parts, household appliances and more” (Cohen). The Zero Covid Policy has already affected big-name companies, especially Apple. Before the protest in China, Apple had been planning to move factories out of China; however, they have since accelerated their movement out of China to factories in India or Vietnam. Due to the Covid policy, the production at Foxconn, the largest iPhone factory producer, has decreased significantly because workers have been stuck in lockdown. Apple is suffering a significant supply chain issue with iPhone and has projected a shortage of 6 million iPhones. 

China’s “Zero Covid Policy” has caused an uproar in China that has caused many problems for the citizens and for the countries and companies that work with China. Although the thought process behind the strict policy may be understandable, the consequences of it are proving to be much more difficult to deal with.

Work Cited 

Biron, Bethany. “Apple is accelerating plans to move production out of China as protests and riots intensify in response to zero-Covid policies, report says'' Businessinsider.https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-accelerates-production-china-protests-2022-12.

Cohen, Patricia. “Chinese Unrest Over Lockdown Upends Global Economic Outlook”.nytimes.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/business/economy/china-unrest-global-economy.html. Nov. 28. 2022

Song, Wanyuan. “What is China’s Covid Policy and how have the rules changed?” bbc. https://www.bbc.com/news/59882774. 

Pietsch, Bryan. “What is China’s “zero covid” policy and why did it trigger protests”.Washingtonpost.https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/29/china-zero-covid-policy-protests-explained/. Nov. 29. 2022