China: The discontent against the government could increase with the mismanagement of the crisis

The announcement of the 60,000 deaths linked to COVID by the Chinese authorities could well raise tension in the country of Xi Jinping, who had obviously not prepared any plan to limit the transmission of the virus in the population which is decimating the country • Read also: 60,000 COVID deaths in one month in China: WHO criticizes the count • Read also: WHO, dissatisfied with China, welcomes collaboration with the United States “China is facing to an internal problem, because they had touted their superior handling of COVID so much, and there, the impression of the Chinese people is that the government is doing an incredible job when it comes to controlling, but when it comes to managing, it's something else,” said Canada's former ambassador to China, Guy St-Jacques

For the first time since the start of the lifting of the ultra-restrictive health measures of the “zero-COVID” policy in early December, the Chinese government unveiled its first report yesterday “Between December 8, 2022 and January 12, 2023, a total of 59,938 [deaths] were recorded” in medical establishments across the country, health authority official Jiao Yahui told reporters yesterday

Propaganda However, one should not believe too much the figures communicated by the government of Xi Jinping, warns Mr St-Jacques

"It's part of a propaganda operation, since it's clear that there are many more deaths than that," he said According to all the reports confirming, for example, the overload of work which the crematoriums face, but also all the knowledge that we have acquired over the past three years on the virus and the infection rates, mortality rates, and vaccination rates

For him, however, it is clear that China is making an effort to try to be more transparent, as the World Health Organization asked him last week But, we must not forget that the Middle Kingdom is still “very touchy” when it comes to its management and the origin of the pandemic, insists Mr

St-Jacques "She's been hiding information for a long time because she's worried she'll have to explain the root of the problem and it comes down to a whole issue of saving face

We are far from the truth and eventually we will have a better idea of ​​the excess mortality because these figures will come out, ”he believes Same story from the side of Loïc Tassé, China specialist and columnist at the Journal, who points out that from the point of view of statistics, the government figures do not stick

“Given the inequality of the Chinese health system, we can expect that there will be more deaths in the very undeveloped hospitals in the countryside and some cities The figure they give is probably wrong, because it also seems that half the population has caught COVID-19, ”he argues

Anger and discontent Since the lifting of health measures, due to demonstrations and economic problems in the country, the virus has spread like wildfire among the population Last week, several Quebecers reported to the Journal that they had caught the disease in just a few days

Many media had also reported that hospitals were overwhelmed with patients battling the disease And it is particularly the elderly of the population, with more fragile health, who find themselves to be the first victims of contamination

According to government data, the average age of the victims of the balance sheet released on Saturday is 80 years old “There will be many grandparents who will die and that will be a huge burden for the population and the parents, since in China it is often the grandparents who take care of the grandchildren during that the parents work", explains the former representative of Canada

Moreover, the very clear end of health measures without a transition plan means that the population realizes that the Chinese government had three years to prepare a plan and that it did nothing, adds guy st-jacques According to him, this could contribute to raising discontent in the country

For Loïc Tassé, it is also to avoid raising discontent that the government does not disclose the true number of deaths “There is public dissatisfaction with the handling of COVID-19 and this dissatisfaction has spread to other areas: it affects the management of Xi Jinping and the management of the Chinese Communist Party

So that's one of the reasons why we underestimate the number of deaths, because we probably don't want to scare the population, but we also don't want to increase their discontent, because people would be very quick to blame the government,” he says, noting that other issues such as youth unemployment and the housing crisis are driving up discontent in the country Towards disputes? Despite everything, it remains very difficult to predict whether this anger could provoke demonstrations, as we saw at the end of November with the fed up with health measures

“People's discontent is very big, it will increase and people will talk about it during Chinese New Year, that's for sure And the Chinese Communist Party will most likely take measures to respond to this discontent, ”thinks Mr

Tassé, who does not see any protest movement brewing for the moment recalling that other subjects such as unemployment among young people and the real estate crisis are increasing discontent in the country

Towards disputes? Despite everything, it remains very difficult to predict whether this anger could provoke demonstrations, as we saw at the end of November with the fed up with health measures “People's discontent is very big, it will increase and people will talk about it during Chinese New Year, that's for sure

And the Chinese Communist Party will most likely take measures to respond to this discontent, ”thinks Mr Tassé, who does not see any protest movement brewing for the moment

recalling that other subjects such as unemployment among young people and the real estate crisis are increasing discontent in the country Towards disputes? Despite everything, it remains very difficult to predict whether this anger could provoke demonstrations, as we saw at the end of November with the fed up with health measures

“People's discontent is very big, it will increase and people will talk about it during Chinese New Year, that's for sure And the Chinese Communist Party will most likely take measures to respond to this discontent, ”thinks Mr

Tassé, who does not see any protest movement brewing for the moment it remains very difficult to predict whether this anger could provoke demonstrations, as we saw at the end of November with the fed up of health measures

“People's discontent is very big, it will increase and people will talk about it during Chinese New Year, that's for sure And the Chinese Communist Party will most likely take measures to respond to this discontent, ”thinks Mr

Tassé, who does not see any protest movement brewing for the moment it remains very difficult to predict whether this anger could provoke demonstrations, as we saw at the end of November with the fed up of health measures

“People's discontent is very big, it will increase and people will talk about it during Chinese New Year, that's for sure And the Chinese Communist Party will most likely take measures to respond to this discontent, ”thinks Mr

Tassé, who does not see any protest movement brewing for the moment

The announcement of the 60,000 deaths linked to COVID by the Chinese authorities could well raise tension in the country of Xi Jinping, who had obviously not prepared any plan to limit the transmission of the virus in the population which is decimating the country • Read also: 60,000 COVID deaths in one month in China: WHO criticizes the count • Read also: WHO, dissatisfied with China, welcomes collaboration with the United States “China is facing to an internal problem, because they had touted their superior handling of COVID so much, and there, the impression of the Chinese people is that the government is doing an incredible job when it comes to controlling, but when it comes to managing, it's something else,” said Canada's former ambassador to China, Guy St-Jacques For the first time since the start of the lifting of the ultra-restrictive health measures of the “zero-COVID” policy in early December, the Chinese government unveiled its first report yesterday “Between December 8, 2022 and January 12, 2023, a total of 59,938 [deaths] were recorded” in medical establishments across the country, health authority official Jiao Yahui told reporters yesterday Propaganda However, one should not believe too much the figures communicated by the government of Xi Jinping, warns Mr St-Jacques "It's part of a propaganda operation, since it's clear that there are many more deaths than that," he said According to all the reports confirming, for example, the overload of work which the crematoriums face, but also all the knowledge that we have acquired over the past three years on the virus and the infection rates, mortality rates, and vaccination rates For him, however, it is clear that China is making an effort to try to be more transparent, as the World Health Organization asked him last week But, we must not forget that the Middle Kingdom is still “very touchy” when it comes to its management and the origin of the pandemic, insists Mr St-Jacques "She's been hiding information for a long time because she's worried she'll have to explain the root of the problem and it comes down to a whole issue of saving face We are far from the truth and eventually we will have a better idea of ​​the excess mortality because these figures will come out, ”he believes Same story from the side of Loïc Tassé, China specialist and columnist at the Journal, who points out that from the point of view of statistics, the government figures do not stick “Given the inequality of the Chinese health system, we can expect that there will be more deaths in the very undeveloped hospitals in the countryside and some cities The figure they give is probably wrong, because it also seems that half the population has caught COVID-19, ”he argues Anger and discontent Since the lifting of health measures, due to demonstrations and economic problems in the country, the virus has spread like wildfire among the population Last week, several Quebecers reported to the Journal that they had caught the disease in just a few days Many media had also reported that hospitals were overwhelmed with patients battling the disease And it is particularly the elderly of the population, with more fragile health, who find themselves to be the first victims of contamination According to government data, the average age of the victims of the balance sheet released on Saturday is 80 years old “There will be many grandparents who will die and that will be a huge burden for the population and the parents, since in China it is often the grandparents who take care of the grandchildren during that the parents work", explains the former representative of Canada Moreover, the very clear end of health measures without a transition plan means that the population realizes that the Chinese government had three years to prepare a plan and that it did nothing, adds Guy St-Jacques According to him, this could contribute to raising discontent in the country For Loïc Tassé, it is also to avoid raising discontent that the government does not disclose the true number of deaths “There is public dissatisfaction with the handling of COVID-19 and this dissatisfaction has spread to other areas: it affects the management of Xi Jinping and the management of the Chinese Communist Party So that's one of the reasons why we underestimate the number of deaths, because we probably don't want to scare the population, but we also don't want to increase their discontent, because people would be very quick to blame the government,” he says, noting that other issues such as youth unemployment and the housing crisis are driving up discontent in the country Towards disputes?