The Shifting Sands of the China-Covid Narrative

Have you noticed the shift in coverage regarding China? For months Western media outlets have voiced criticism regarding Beijing's Zero-Covid policy. They referred to it as draconian and despite the fact that only a few thousand people have died within a country over a billion people – as ineffective.

By contrast the US, which is one-quarter the population of China has experienced well over a million deaths since the onset of the pandemic. Even now the deaths continue – with over 100,000 this year alone. If this had been the flu, it would be a major headline and yet in the aftermath of two years of Covid, it's not even newsworthy anymore.

China has been lambasted for months and you pretty much have to watch more serious news or that which focuses on the business angle to understand the real reason why Western media (operating as an arm of Wall Street) has pursued this line. The lockdowns have hampered the supply lines and as long as this continues, the trans-oceanic network of trade and shipping has little hope of being corrected. Zero-Covid has saved lives but it has deeply wounded the global capitalist network and its profits. We've all felt this in the form of inflation.

So now after weeks of unrest – which have also been mis-reported on several points, Beijing has capitulated and lifted restrictions.

The Urumqi fire has been a point of coverage in the West and yet if you had spent even a few minutes investigating it, you would find the story is full of holes. I say 'spent' because as each day passes the flood of stories all but buries any attempt to investigate this out by means of Internet search engine. It also seems to me that some stories I read previously have all but disappeared. While I certainly doubt claims made by CCP-affiliated outlets, those connected to the Western Establishment, let alone CIA-proxies like Radio Free Asia are not to be believed either. I also doubt some of the Uighur voices abroad in Turkey and America. The Cold War demonstrated how such expatriate dissidents are used and manipulated by Western interests and in many cases are in their pay.

Likewise many of the protests have been labour related and in some cases may even be connected to a relaxing of Covid restrictions – a point you will not hear in the West.

There are many forces and tensions at work within Chinese society. The West decided to lump all this together as part of its anti-Covid/anti-Beijing propaganda line. China is an authoritarian state to be sure and the US is attempting to use this as a means to whip up anti-Beijing sentiment within Western society. As such, the media isn't concerned with the details, nuances, or anything resembling the truth. The need to amplify the media attack was heightened over the past week as the Washington Establishment gnashed its teeth, watching the Saudi leadership host Xi for a series of meetings with Middle Eastern leaders and representatives.

Contrary to Western media's claims, there are protests all the time inside China. It wasn't that many years ago that this fact was often referred to in the news as Western strategists wondered whether China would in fact expand its international footprint or first suffer a debilitating internal conflagration. People spoke of the instability within China. Xi has attempted to consolidate his power and certainly clamped down on this and yet the protests still happen. And as even a few respected Western-connected commentators have pointed out – the current protests aren't simply about Covid. This is but the catalyst that has unleashed and boosted an already extant protest movement. This is about working conditions, economic woes, and other government policies regarding censorship and the like. Protests are not new, but there's no doubt the scale has put Xi and the CCP on to their back foot. And while I don't doubt the CCP has felt the need to relent on the severity of its Zero-Covid measures, I believe the real reason for the shift in policy is ultimately economic. But it's a gamble isn't it? If Covid runs rampant, that too will deeply wound the Chinese economy and they won't be able to hide it.

And so in light of the protests, Beijing relents and loosens its Covid policy, justifying this by the argument that the Omicron variant is less of a danger – and then what? The West praises them, right? Hardly.

Now – and you just have to laugh – the coverage has shifted to concerns over Beijing's laxity. Suddenly removing all of these restrictions is generating concern that the CCP isn't engaging in responsible leadership and that we're likely to see a lot of people get sick and die in coming months. The tone is one in which the government of Xi Jinping is presented as reckless and irresponsible, not taking public health of the lives of citizenry in a serious manner.

You can't make this stuff up.

But it's instructive. If anything it shows just how disingenuous the media is. Outlets like the BBC and NPR speak with forked tongues. The 'journalists' and editors who run these organisations aren't truth-tellers, or adversarial. They're sell-outs and mouthpieces. They're scoundrels bought and sold by the Wall Street and political Establishment they serve.

We're seeing the same sort of thing with regard to the GOP and mail-in voting. In light of their defeat in Georgia and the statistics related to it, they've completely flip-flopped on this issue without missing a beat. It only goes to show (once again) what the crew at FOX is all about and how their notions of journalism are a joke. In this case some of the mainstream outlets have picked up on this and openly mock them.

But when it comes to China and Covid – the mainstream is as much of a joke as FOX is.