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The main epicenter of the new Covid outbreak in China, Shanghai began on Sunday (20) a lockdown that will divide the city into two halves as mass testing continues.
The division follows the course of the Huangpu River, which cuts through the metropolis. Residents of Pudong, on the east bank of the river, will be locked in until Monday. Those who live in Puxi, on the west bank, start the lockdown this Friday (1st).
The city struggles to bring Covid cases to zero again, after a biological leak at a quarantine hotel spread the omicron variant across several districts.
- There have been 20,000 infections since the beginning of March, which represents more than all the cases found in the two previous years of the pandemic;
- The peak of this wave seems far away, and the numbers continue to increase: on Thursday, there were 355 symptomatic cases and another 5,298 non-symptomatic.
With the closure, the city has faced supply problems. Fearing the extension of the lockdown, several residents emptied the shelves in supermarkets. There is a lack of vegetables and staples in the Chinese diet, such as rice and pork.
The stress caused by the closure has been triggering other problems. On Tuesday (29), a video of a bar fight went viral on social media.
Local Chinese were outraged by a group of foreigners who celebrated a happy hour on the street while some residents were prevented from leaving their homes. The confusion ended with physical assaults and depredation in the bar.
why it matters: Shanghai is China’s financial heartland, and a lasting lockdown will cost the expected 5.5% economic growth this year dearly.
In addition to the financial damage, the division of the city is a blow to Chinese morale: on the internet, comparisons of the measure with the division promoted by Japan in the 1937 invasion, in the bloody episode of the Sino-Japanese war known as the Battle of Shanghai.
what also matters
The trial of Australian journalist Cheng Lei began on Thursday (31), accused by the Chinese government of passing state secrets to other countries.
Cheng was an anchor for the state television network CGTN until her arrest in August 2020. Born in Hunan Province, she emigrated to Australia at age 10 in 1985.
She later renounced her Chinese citizenship and became a naturalized Australian, but continued to work as a translator and, since 2012, as a journalist for China’s state media.
In 2020, she was placed under “home surveillance”, a form of the Chinese penal system that keeps detainees in custody for up to six months even without formal charges and with visits from family members or lawyers prohibited. Afterwards, Cheng was accused of espionage.
Police cordoned off areas close to the court and barred access to journalists. Australian Ambassador Graham Fletcher told the press he was also barred from entering the courtroom and said he was unable to trust “a process that is conducted in secret”.
Oceanian countries reacted to China’s agreement with the Solomon Islands that could allow the deployment of Chinese military troops and security forces to the archipelago.
- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison again expressed discomfort with the text. He said there was “great concern in the entire Pacific family.”
- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden called the agreement “gravely concerning” and a dangerous step towards militarizing the region.
- The strongest reaction came from Micronesia. The country’s president, David Panuelo, said he feared the islands “are at the epicenter of a future confrontation” between the US and China.
Considered pro-Beijing, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has rejected the criticism. In a speech on Tuesday (29), he called it outrageous who classifies his country’s sovereign affairs as inadequate.
keep an eye
On Wednesday (30), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to China ended, the first since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Although he was in the country officially to discuss matters relating to Afghanistan, Lavrov spoke indirectly about the war and expressed confidence in what he called friendship with China.
“We are living through a very serious phase in the history of international relations, but I am sure that, at the end of this stage, the international situation will become much clearer and that we [russos]together with you [chineses] and our allies, we will move towards a multipolar, fair and democratic world order,” he said alongside Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister.
why it matters: Concerned about the impact of the war in Ukraine on the price of oil and on global supply chains, China continues to try to assert itself as a mediator in the conflict, although it is beginning to be pressured to take a more active stance against Russia by Western countries.
to go deep
- The Radar China channel resumes this Saturday (2), at 9 am, the new season of the “Radar Interview” segment. The program lasts 30 minutes and receives prominent names in sinology in Brazil. The guest of the week is Renato Peneluppi, who will talk about the Chinese growth goal in 2022. (free, in Portuguese)
- The Observa China network also meets this Saturday (2) at 10 am to discuss the film “Red: Growing Up Is a Beast”. Directed by Chinese illustrator Domee Shi, the feature is a metaphor about teenage maturation, representation and feminism. (free, in Portuguese)
- This week, the Brazil-China Business Center released the March bulletin of the CEBC Multimídia project. Curated by Pedro Cariello, the edition features a selection of texts on China’s role in the Ukrainian war, Chinese business in Brazil and prospects for the world economy. (free, in Portuguese and English)
