[Correspondent Column] COVID-19 Battle Became a Tool for Solidifying Single-Person System

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Sunmi Park] On the 9th, after finishing self-quarantine and going out, much had changed in the bleak appearance of Beijing due to COVID-19. Spring had come to Beijing as well. Forsythia bloomed in apartment flower beds, and people’s outerwear became noticeably lighter. The streets were also lively. Although not everyone had returned to normal daily life, there were more cars and people on the streets than two weeks ago.

However, in Wangjing, a Korean-dense area in Beijing where the reporter resides, almost all apartment indoor lights are brightly lit in the evening. This indicates that many people are still refraining from going out or remain inside their homes, not yet released from quarantine.

Even during self-quarantine, monitoring is quite thorough. The local community directly engages in close surveillance. The police station and residents’ committee take turns making regular phone calls to check whether those in self-quarantine are properly isolating. Many apartments post notices on the doors of quarantined residents stating, “This person is from another region and is undergoing 14 days of self-quarantine,” so security guards patrol inside and ring the doorbell of such units to confirm if someone is inside. This amounts to several surprise inspections a day.

As a result of various combined quarantine measures, the fear of COVID-19 spreading within China has considerably eased. The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases has dropped below 50, and most of these are concentrated in one area of Wuhan City, Hubei Province. Chinese state media such as Xinhua News Agency report daily statistics on COVID-19 infection status every morning, highlighting that most regions record “0 new cases” and that the number of recovered and discharged patients is rapidly increasing. There is an overflowing sense of expectation that victory in the war against COVID-19 is near.

China is creating an atmosphere that credits President Xi Jinping for the success in controlling COVID-19. It is portrayed that President Xi chaired multiple response meetings and personally visited the frontlines to lead the efforts, resulting in the current progress in COVID-19 control. Xinhua News Agency has even published reports reviewing President Xi’s activities during the COVID-19 outbreak, turning every move of his into an achievement.

At the beginning of the year, there was a crisis theory that the Chinese leadership under President Xi was facing challenges due to the Hong Kong democracy protests, the US-China trade war, and Taiwan election issues, but the atmosphere has completely reversed. With the outbreak of COVID-19 and the response process, China fostered a mood emphasizing “patriotism,” and President Xi succeeded in reshaping his image as a wise leader who restored China from crisis.

Seizing the situation of COVID-19 spreading outside China as an opportunity, some Chinese experts have even suggested that COVID-19 might not have originally started in China. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) bluntly criticized this by publishing an article titled “Chinese Government Portrays Xi Jinping as Hero in Fight Against Coronavirus,” pointing out the domestic atmosphere that depicts President Xi as the decisive leader who played the biggest role in responding to COVID-19.

In politically closed China, heroizing a leader who helped overcome a crisis is not necessarily wrong, but the problem lies in the timing. Although the COVID-19 outbreak phase in China has shown signs of calming, nearly 20,000 confirmed patients are still receiving treatment, and the spread outside China is uncontrollable. The situation sharply contrasts between China, which has passed its peak and begun to subside, and the rest of the world, where the spread is just accelerating.

It is too shameless for China to boast about winning the battle against COVID-19 and to “heroize Xi Jinping.” The efforts and dedication of the people fighting COVID-19 should not be used as a tool to consolidate the one-person rule within the Communist Party.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.