The CCP’s Zero COVID Campaign Left a Lasting Mark on Chinese Politics – The Diplomat 10/11/23, 16:38

THE DEBATE | OPINION

The CCP’s Zero COVID Campaign

Left a Lasting Mark on Chinese
Politics
Zero COVID artificially and unnecessarily created
the perfect condition for a political thunderstorm
that could shake the ruling legitimacy and
control mechanism of the party-state.

By Wilson (Yuxi) Wen

August 10, 2023

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The CCP’s Zero COVID Campaign Left a Lasting Mark on Chinese Politics – The Diplomat 10/11/23, 16:38

Protesters hold up blank pieces of paper and chant slogans as they march to
protest strict anti-virus measures in Beijing, Nov. 27, 2022.
Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File

While China’s zero COVID campaign has become part of the unmentioned past for
many people both inside and outside China, we shouldn’t downplay its significance.
The zero COVID e!ort marked the first political campaign that involved the
participation of practically every Chinese citizen since the end of the Cultural
Revolution. Therefore, understanding the implications of the zero COVID campaign is
of critical significance in unearthing the governance style and social control
mechanism in contemporary China. While the worst political ramifications for the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seem to have concluded with the disappearance of
the “A4 Revolution” and the overnight reversal of zero COVID policies, the lasting
impact of the zero COVID campaign is here to stay.

Like any mass political campaign in the history of the CCP, mass participation and
propaganda were two indispensable ingredients to the execution of the zero COVID
campaign. However, unlike any of the political campaigns under Mao Zedong, where
social chaos was encouraged, current leader Xi Jinping prioritizes carefully designed

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The CCP’s Zero COVID Campaign Left a Lasting Mark on Chinese Politics – The Diplomat 10/11/23, 16:38

and closely controlled mass participation. With a nationwide expansion of

surveillance technology, such as the use of health codes, travel codes, and
surveillance drones, the party-state expanded to an unprecedented extent and
practically realized the concept of “grid-style social management,” which was
proposed in 2004 and nationally launched in 2015, through the community
organization and local law enforcement apparatus. The party-state delegated its
administrative power through provincial, municipal, county, and village
governments down to each individual community organization, which is, in turn,
responsible for information collection and activity monitoring.

As Professor Taisu Zhang argued, “Compared to its pre-Covid self, the current
Chinese Party-state apparatus can now track and govern individual activity with
unprecedented precision and regularity.” Such a tightened social control mechanism,
coupled with advanced surveillance technology, was described by former Central
Party School Professor Cai Xia as “exquisite totalitarianism.” Therefore, there is little
doubt that mass participation in the zero COVID campaign was thoroughly controlled
by the party-state.

However, the obsession with social stability during a communist-style political

campaign tends to backfire and jeopardize the success of the campaign itself. For any
communist mass movement, in addition to the power of propaganda, the secret
recipe of success is heated enthusiasm among the majority of the common people,
who feel a sense of self-worth through answering the CCP’s patriotic calls. When the
critical administrative power that determines individual mobility was delegated to
each community organization, the primary force of active participants in the zero
COVID campaign became leading members within each community organization.
The vast majority of the common people were merely passive recipients of the
political campaign. The ordinary citizens of China could personally feel the presence
of the party-state through mandatory COVID-19 testing, draconian lockdowns, travel
tracing, and forced quarantine without any say in any of these regular activities.

Therefore, the majority of the public had neither heated enthusiasm in the zero
COVID campaign, nor any active patriotic duties to fulfill. As internal and external
factors started to shift, such as economic stagnation, man-made tragedies due to
irrational quarantine, forced property requisition for quarantine purposes, and the
gradual resumption of normalcy in the outside world, the magical power of
propaganda would inevitably fail. The stark contrast between the harsh living
conditions and the noble ideal of “People First; Life First” subverted the party-state’s
initial design.

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The CCP’s Zero COVID Campaign Left a Lasting Mark on Chinese Politics – The Diplomat 10/11/23, 16:38

Had the paralleled universe created between China and the outside world been the
only political ramification of the zero COVID campaign, the problem would have
been solved with the overnight reversal of the campaign. However, when this stark
contrast was accompanied by economic hardship and the struggle for basic survival
under lockdown and quarantine, it broke the fundamental political bargain made
between the party-state and the Chinese people since the Tiananmen Square protest
in 1989, hence compromising the fundamental political legitimacy of the CCP.

The success of the party-state heavily relies on a trade-o! between the political rights
and the economic interests of the Chinese people. After China’s reform and opening
up, top leader Deng Xiaoping sent a clear message to the Chinese public: As long as
they relinquish their political rights, their economic interests would be protected by
the party. Indeed, thanks to rising incomes over the past decades, the younger
generation in China’s urban areas had never before experienced first-hand the
practice of food rationing. However, under draconian lockdowns and criminal
punishment for violating COVID-related policies, the party-state created the modern
version of famine in multiple major cities, including Xi’an and Shanghai, by
restricting food supply and delivery. Uncertainty over the duration of the lockdown
and di"culties in buying groceries and life necessities directly threatened the basic
survival of the Chinese public.

In addition, the zero COVID campaign also a!ected people’s access to medical care.
Pregnant women were denied admission to hospitals because of various COVID-19
testing requirements, for example. Even in life-threatening situations, there were
frequent reports of people being unable to obtain professional medical help due to
COVID-19 restrictions, resulting in tragic loss of life.

Concerns for basic survival under lockdown were further intensified by the negative
economic consequences that quickly followed. Citywide lockdowns caused frequent
shutdowns of small businesses in urban areas and supply chain disruptions for large
factories. Workers often had to work in a “closed loop” where they were not allowed
to leave their workplace for weeks if not months. Due to China’s dual-track
household registration system, rural residents working in cities are practically
second-class urban citizens without corresponding housing rights, medical
insurance, social security, education, and other benefits. When large-scale lockdowns
were imposed, migrant workers often had to choose between returning to their
hometown, hence losing their livelihood, and staying in cities without stable income
to support their families and themselves. From the perspective of social stability,
nothing is scarier than a destabilized rural population pushed to the line of basic

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The CCP’s Zero COVID Campaign Left a Lasting Mark on Chinese Politics – The Diplomat 10/11/23, 16:38

survival.

The eruption of the nationwide protest, popularly known as the “A4 Revolution,”
sparked by the tragic fire incident at a high-rise apartment building in Xinjiang, was
a direct reflection of the tipping point of the Chinese public. The profound sense of
insecurity under zero COVID was exhibited by hundreds of thousands of young
people who confronted the campaign in mass gatherings not seen in decades. Under
China’s formidable internal security apparatus, coupled with the near absence of
civil society, it’s nearly impossible for nationwide protests to occur or last. That zero
COVID managed to force people onto the streets despite the personal danger that
entails highlights that the protesters felt the basic right to life had been credibly
threatened.

Therefore, despite the relatively quick disappearance of the civil unrest in China, the
mere occurrence of the nationwide protest with direct reference to the CCP is
evidence of the disruptive, if not destructive, impact of the zero COVID campaign on
the political legitimacy of the party-state.

Additionally, while one may argue that the “A4 Revolution” was not the only reason
for the ending of zero COVID, it undeniably played a critical role in the Party-state’s
decision to reverse the campaign overnight. No matter how the party-state may
sugarcoat its decision to end zero COVID, the decision opened up a terrible precedent
for the CCP as a political concession to the Chinese public as a result of public dissent.
While issue-specific civil unrest is nothing uncommon in China, nationwide protest
with direct reference to the political governance of the party-state is extremely rare.
And the swift reversal of zero COVID further intensified all the existing contrasts that
were already prohibitively stark. Hence, despite the surge in COVID-19 cases
immediately after the end of the policy, the Chinese people secured a limited victory
in pressing the party-state to change course.

Therefore, the long-term political ramification of the zero COVID campaign cannot be
ignored. While most Chinese people have decided to move on from zero COVID, the
campaign has left a mark on the political bargain between the party-state and the
Chinese public. As a mass political movement, the zero COVID campaign artificially
and unnecessarily created the perfect condition for a political thunderstorm that
could shake the ruling legitimacy and control mechanism of the party-state. While
China’s zero COVID campaign may already feel like a bygone era, the enduring
impact is yet to surface.

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The CCP’s Zero COVID Campaign Left a Lasting Mark on Chinese Politics – The Diplomat 10/11/23, 16:38

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AUTHORS

GUEST AUTHOR

Wilson (Yuxi) Wen

Wilson (Yuxi) Wen is a Juris Doctor candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and serves
as a senior editor of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal. He is also the research director at
HanVoice and serves as an East Asia associate for Open Foreign Policy Initiative.

TAGS

The Debate Opinion CCP CCP legitimacy China COVID policy China mass line China politics

China zero COVID protests China zero-tolerance COVID policy COVID–19 lockdowns

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