Zero-Covid in China Key to Xi Legacy as He Eyes Third Term

For many in China, strict Covid curbs are a source of ongoing misery, but for President Xi Jinping, they are a triumph NICOLAS ASFOURI AFP/File
For many in China, strict Covid curbs are a source of ongoing misery, but for President Xi Jinping, they are a triumph NICOLAS ASFOURI AFP/File
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Zero-Covid in China Key to Xi Legacy as He Eyes Third Term

For many in China, strict Covid curbs are a source of ongoing misery, but for President Xi Jinping, they are a triumph NICOLAS ASFOURI AFP/File
For many in China, strict Covid curbs are a source of ongoing misery, but for President Xi Jinping, they are a triumph NICOLAS ASFOURI AFP/File

For many in China, years of grueling lockdowns and privacy invasions aimed at extinguishing Covid have caused misery.

For President Xi Jinping, the virus curbs are a triumph, AFP said.

His zero-tolerance approach to Covid has become synonymous with the efforts to cement his authority over China and its ruling Communist Party (CCP).

The endgame begins on October 16, when thousands of party delegates will gather in Beijing for a major party congress at which he is expected to secure a historic third term.

"Xi's legacy and the legitimacy of the CCP are bound to the success of the zero-Covid campaign," Diana Fu, an expert on Chinese domestic politics at the Brookings Institution think tank, told AFP.

While the rest of the world has largely moved to live with Covid, Xi has insisted on draconian policies aimed at eliminating the virus.

The approach has crippled growth in the world's second-largest economy, which was already struggling with a debt-laden property sector and high youth unemployment.

But Xi has dug in his heels, declaring zero-Covid China's most "economic and effective" path forward, while maintaining policies that have deepened the state's control over the lives of its 1.4 billion people.

- Tests and QR codes -
The headline-grabbing planks of the campaign continue to be the snap lockdowns -- sometimes confining tens of millions of people to their homes for weeks or months.

In one of the recent shutdowns, some residents in the megacity of Chengdu were not allowed to go outside even when an earthquake shook their apartment buildings.

And in the economic hub of Shanghai, a months-long lockdown led to rare scenes of protests from middle-class and wealthy Chinese.

Public frustration has also pushed past China's internet censors and onto social media.

In one of the highest-profile cases, a bus crash in rural Guizhou province that killed 27 people on the way to a Covid quarantine facility sparked a surge of online criticism.

General curbs that erode privacy and limit movement have also caused anger and resentment.

Residents in many cities must obtain a negative coronavirus test every few days to gain access to public spaces.

They then use their smartphones to scan QR codes at entrances to offices, malls and restaurants and bring up their latest test results.

A green icon indicates they are free to enter, while red or amber means they may have, respectively, tested positive or passed near someone who has.

That could lead to anything from a few days of home isolation to weeks at a quarantine facility.

The system also tracks people's movements, leaving it open to abuse, such as when authorities were accused of thwarting anti-corruption protests this year by turning participants' codes red.

Before the pandemic, China's citizens were already under heavy surveillance.

Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, said the Covid-monitoring apparatus was "in line with the model of social control" spearheaded by Xi.

- 'No choice' -
China argues zero-Covid places human life above material concerns and has helped to avert the public health crises seen in other countries.

Officials have also voiced fears that the virus would overwhelm China's patchy healthcare system if allowed to spread unchecked, particularly in elderly rural communities.

So far, China has reported just over 5,000 Covid deaths compared with more than a million in the United States.

But while the milder Omicron virus variant has reduced the risk of reopening in many countries, China's curbs continue to extract hefty economic and social costs.

"They have to abandon zero-Covid ultimately," said Jin Dong-yan, a professor at Hong Kong University's School of Biomedical Sciences, calling it "wrong and against all scientific evidence".

The policy's initial success has created a sense of inertia among policymakers, according to Allen Wu, a professor at Nanjing University's medical school who has advised the World Health Organization.

"There is this mentality that we did such a wonderful job in 2020 and 2021... if we (now) do nothing and a huge number of people get infected, that basically gives away all you have achieved," he told AFP.

Many in China speak favorably of zero-Covid, with Fu of the Brookings Institution saying state propaganda had convinced most people of the need to cut cases "at all human and economic costs".

"A vast number of Chinese citizens still support draconian measures despite evident personal suffering," she said.

Even those at the extreme end of the policy have no option but to submit.

Airline engineer Ian Jiang has spent 200 days in isolation hotels throughout the pandemic, and China continues to enforce quarantines for overseas arrivals of up to two weeks.

Jiang, 38, described the measures as "very inconvenient for my personal life".

"But that's the Chinese government's policy," said Jiang. "You have no choice."

There is unlikely to be much overt opposition when Xi receives the adulation of party delegates at this month's Congress.

"The campaign, no matter the actual socioeconomic outcomes, will continue to be hailed as a triumph of Chinese socialism," Fu said.



Musk Calls Trump’s Tax-Cut and Spending Bill ‘a Disgusting Abomination’ 

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)
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Musk Calls Trump’s Tax-Cut and Spending Bill ‘a Disgusting Abomination’ 

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)

Billionaire Elon Musk plunged on Tuesday into the congressional debate over President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill, calling it a "disgusting abomination" that will increase the federal deficit.

Several fiscally conservative Republicans in the US Senate supported the views Musk expressed in social media posts, which could complicate the bill's path to passage in that chamber.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore," Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk wrote in a post on his social media platform X. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination."

He added: "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it."

Musk's comments hit a nerve. Republican deficit hawks have expressed concerns about the cost of the bill, which would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump's main legislative accomplishment, while boosting spending on the military and border security.

The House of Representatives passed it by one vote last month, after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the measure would add $3.8 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt.

The Senate, also controlled by Trump's Republicans, aims to pass the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" in the next month, though senators are expected to revise the House version.

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees tax policy, are due to meet with Trump at the White House on Wednesday afternoon to discuss making the bill's business-related tax breaks permanent, according to Senator Steve Daines, a panel member. Analysts have warned that such a move would greatly increase the measure's cost.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he disagreed with Musk's assessment about the cost of the bill and stood by the goal of passage by July 4.

"We have a job to do - the American people elected us to do. We have an agenda that everybody campaigned on, most notably the president of the United States, and we're going to deliver on that agenda," the South Dakota lawmaker told reporters.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson also dismissed Musk's complaints, telling reporters, "my friend Elon is terribly wrong."

TEST OF INFLUENCE

Musk's loud opposition to a bill that Trump has urged Republicans to pass presents a test of his political influence a week after leaving his formal role in the administration as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency came to an end. As DOGE chief, he upended several federal agencies but ultimately failed to deliver the massive savings he had sought.

The richest person in the world, Musk had spent nearly $300 million to back Trump's presidential campaign and other Republicans in last year's elections. But he has said he would cut his political spending substantially while returning to his role as Tesla CEO.

The White House dismissed Tuesday's attack, just as Trump dismissed earlier Musk complaints about the legislation.

"Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill," spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said at a White House briefing. "It doesn't change the president's opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he's sticking to it."

REPUBLICAN DISAGREEMENTS

Senate Republicans were divided about the bill even before Musk's missives. Deficit hawks are pushing for deeper spending cuts than the $1.6 trillion over a decade in the House version, while another coalition of rural-state Republicans are pushing to protect the Medicaid healthcare program for low-income Americans.

One of the hawks, Senator Mike Lee, called on party members to use the Trump bill and future spending measures to reduce the deficit.

"We must commit now to doing so, as this is what voters justifiably expect - and indeed deserve - from the GOP Congress," the Utah Republican said on X while reposting Musk's message.

Republicans have a 53-47 seat majority in the Senate and can afford to lose support from no more than three members, if they expect to pass the legislation with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance by a July 4 deadline.

Another hardliner, Senator Ron Johnson, predicted that lawmakers would not be able to meet the deadline and secure an adequate number of cuts.

Lee and Johnson are among at least four Senate hardliners demanding that the bill be changed to restrict the growth of the debt and deficit.

The faction of party lawmakers determined to limit spending cuts to project Medicaid beneficiaries and business investments in green energy initiatives is of similar size.

"I certainly have an interest in making sure people with disabilities are not harmed. But also, there's the broad issue of how does it affect hospital reimbursements," Senator Jerry Moran told reporters.

"There's a set of my colleagues who are pushing to do more. And so, it turns on how do you get the votes to pass a bill," the Kansas Republican said.

Other Senate Republicans said lawmakers may have to look elsewhere to boost savings, including the possibility of leaving Trump's much touted tax break proposals for tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits for later legislation.

"Those are all Democrat priorities. I'm not sure why we shouldn't be doing that in a potential bipartisan bill to create headspace for this bill," said Republican Senator Thom Tillis.