By Pierson Gruettner

Published January 10, 2023

The COVID-19 Pandemic, which can be argued has never ended, and the United States as of the date this is written has extended the COVID public health emergency through January 11, 2023. China took some of the hardest stances on public restrictions in the interest of stopping the spread of the virus. China took a “Zero Covid Policy,” and continued to do so up to the last two months of 2022, but the economic devastation of strict lockdowns and mass testing lead the country to reverse its strategy. 

The reported cases and death count caused by the virus in China are questionable. The leaders of the country wanted to and needed to keep face regarding their approach to controlling the outbreaks. The world and the people of China will never know the true extent the virus had on the country’s population.  

An explanation for China’s continued outbreak could be due to the non-mRNA vaccines, which they supplied to the citizens of China. China refused to receive assistance from Western countries’ supply of mRNA vaccines. Instead, China supplied their citizens with domestically developed vaccines, which are less effective than mRNA vaccines.  

The Zero Covid Policy caused companies to reconsider China as their manufacturing hub and began to pull their manufacturing out of China. Companies began to move their manufacturing to such countries as Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, and Taiwan. 

Such notable companies that have left China are Apple, Samsung, Hasbro, and Adidas. The harsh lockdowns in China forced companies to reconsider their supply chain. Now that China has reversed its Zero COVID Policy, a new fiscal year will tell how much China’s policy affected its GDP, if the country accurately reports true statistics, with a global recession being whispered amongst companies and countries throughout the world.  

Sources 

Khullar, D. (2023, January 8). The dire aftermath of China’s untenable “Zero covid” policy. The New Yorker. Retrieved January 10, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/16/the-dire-aftermath-of-chinas-untenable-zero-covid-policy 

Kimball, S. (2022, October 14). U.S. extends Covid public health emergency even though Biden says pandemic is over. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/13/us-extends-covid-public-health-emergency-.html 

How political and economic pressure led to Beijing’s zero-Covid U-turn. (2023, January 10). South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3206089/how-political-and-economic-pressure-led-beijings-abrupt-u-turn-zero-covid?module=perpetual_scroll_0 

LaRocco, L. A. (2022, October 25). China, “factory of the world,” is losing more of its manufacturing and export dominance, latest data shows. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/20/china-factory-of-the-world-is-losing-its-manufacturing-dominance.html 

Braw, E. (2022, October 8). Offshored Jobs Are Leaving China as Tensions Grow. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/02/companies-fleeing-china-friendshoring-supply-chains/ 

“2016 – China – Yangtze River – Three Gorges Dam – Net Manufacturing” by Ted’s photos – Returns Early October is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.