Zero-COVID Policy in China: Epidemic Control and the Mode of Politics

Lai, Hongyi

Abstract

In 2022 highly restrictive measures were imposed in China to contain the less deadly Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. This study argues that these measures resulted from a move away from pragmatic authoritarianism and toward totalitarianism since 2013 and that the lockdown of scores of cities such as Shanghai in 2022 carried quintessential features of totalitarianism. Revived totalitarianism in China helped explain the longest, the largest strict epidemic control among all nations during the covid pandemic. The politics and the end of zero covid policy in China in 2022 are analysed.

Citation

Lai, H. (2023). Zero-COVID Policy in China: Epidemic Control and the Mode of Politics. East Asian Policy, 15(4), 61-77. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793930523000296

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 28, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-12
• Deposit Date: Dec 4, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 4, 2023
• Journal: East Asian Policy
• Print ISSN: 1793-9305
• Electronic ISSN: 2251-3175
• Publisher: National University of Singapore, East Asian Institute
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 61-77
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793930523000296
• Keywords: Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/28136957
• Publisher URL: https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S1793930523000296