[NTD Beijing March 31, 2022]After the central government dispatched a steering group to talk to Li Qiang, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Shanghai’s epidemic prevention changed from “precise prevention and control” to “closed city” mode. Shanghai epidemic prevention expert Zhang Wenhong was also absent for several days. The epidemic news conference is suspected to be replaced. Expert analysis shows that Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control is closely related to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and involves power struggles within the party.
Shanghai’s anti-epidemic system is quietly changing
Zhang Wenhong, the leader of the “Shanghai New Coronary Pneumonia Medical Treatment Expert Group”, last appeared at a press conference on the epidemic on March 25. He said: “Shanghai’s prevention and control strategy has interrupted the exponential increase in transmission. We are not adopting a city closure strategy. We are constantly doing rolling screenings.”
But two days later, Shanghai officials suddenly announced the closure of Pudong and Puxi, breaking Zhang Wenhong’s “no city closure” epidemic prevention strategy. Instead, it was exactly the same scene as when Xi’an, Changchun and other cities were locked down. Countless people rushed into the supermarket to buy frantically, and even emergency patients died due to delayed treatment.
On March 28, Wu Jinglei, director of the Shanghai Municipal Health and Health Commission, introduced the Shanghai epidemic at a press conference with the title of “Head of the Medical Treatment Team of the Shanghai Epidemic Prevention and Control Leading Group”. Zhang Wenhong did not show up.
Therefore, there is speculation in the market that Shanghai’s anti-epidemic policy has changed and Zhang Wenhong’s position has been adjusted. Yokogawa, a current affairs commentator based in the United States, said in the “Yokogawa Viewpoint” program that Wu Jinglei and Zhang Wenhong’s titles are missing a few words of expert group, but they are obviously the same position.
Yokogawa said that after verification, the “Shanghai Medical Treatment Team of the Leading Group for Epidemic Prevention and Control” appeared for the first time on March 28, and it did not exist before, which shows that Zhang Wenhong’s position was indeed replaced by Wu Jinglei.
In Yokogawa’s view, it is clear that Wu Jinglei’s new title is a political appointment, replacing experts with party leaders. This shows that Shanghai’s epidemic prevention model is likely to change from a unique “precise prevention and control” to a dynamic clearing closer to the nationwide lockdown.
On March 30, Xinhua News Agency, the official media of the Communist Party of China, once again published a commentary saying, “Insist on ‘dynamic clearing’ and do not relax.” Current affairs commentator Qin Peng said that this shows that the highest level of the CCP does not want Shanghai to become an epidemic prevention special zone, and still insists on “dynamic clearing”.
Qin Peng said that Shanghai has undergone major changes after the closure of the city, and many places are rushing to build makeshift hospitals day and night. According to informed netizens, the authorities plan to build 50 makeshift hospitals with a total capacity of 300,000 people. As Li Chengpeng, a well-known mainland writer and commentator, wrote in the article “Some things need to be written into history, some people are no longer human”: “Don’t be naive, Shanghai is not a place outside the law, as long as there is still a municipal party secretary, City is one thing.”
Expert: The Shanghai epidemic has impacted the personnel layout of the top 20
The Beijing-based Duowei.com reported that the new group headed by Wu Jinglei should be placed under the leadership of the “Shanghai Leading Group for Epidemic Prevention and Control,” directly commanded by a leading group led by Shanghai party secretary Li Qiang.
After the outbreak of the epidemic in Shanghai, on March 22, the authorities sent the fifth inspection team to Shanghai. Li Qiang, Deputy Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Mayor Gong Zheng, and the fifth inspection team leader and deputy director of the General Administration of Customs Zhang Jiwen, etc. People “talk”.
Subsequently, on the evening of the 27th, Shanghai officials announced that starting from the 28th, the Huangpu River will be the boundary, and nucleic acid screening will be carried out by partition and batch control.
Yue Shan, a political commentator in The Epoch Times, believes that Shanghai’s official announcement that it will block the city by districts shows that Li Qiang can’t bear it anymore. The outbreak in Shanghai this time is out of control, and if it gets worse, it may impact the personnel layout of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this fall.
Li Qiang, 63, is a member of the Political Bureau of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He served as secretary-general of the provincial party committee when Xi Jinping was in power in Zhejiang. It is reported that he will be promoted to the Standing Committee of the Politburo at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and even take over as Prime Minister.
Yue Shan said that as Xi’s close confidant, Li Qiang’s every move was targeted by political enemies within the party. Once Li Qiang makes a mistake, not only will his career be hindered, but even Xi Jinping’s re-election will be attacked by anti-Xi factions.
However, the Hong Kong media “Ming Pao” published an article on March 29 saying that the epidemic in Shanghai could not be sustained, but no official has been held accountable so far, and Sun Chunlan, the vice premier of the State Council of the Communist Party of China, has not gone to Shanghai to supervise, which shows that Shanghai is special.
The article analyzes that, after the June 4th Movement, all Shanghai secretaries except Chen Liangyu were sacked, and the rest were promoted to Politburo Standing Committee members. According to this rule, Li Qiang is also regarded as a popular candidate for “normalization” at this year’s 20th National Congress, and the epidemic in Shanghai should not affect his career.
Current affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan believes that the closure of Shanghai is both a crisis for Shanghai and a crisis for Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping’s top priority now is to be re-elected this fall. Before reaching this goal, he can’t have any blameable mistakes, he personally deployed the clearing mode that he personally commanded, and he can’t be allowed to be considered to have lost to the coexistence mode.
He said that the impact of Shanghai’s closure is not only in the medical and economic fields, but its greater impact is that it is a result of the game between Xi Jinping and the opposition. From the current point of view, Xi Jinping temporarily has the upper hand.
Tang Jingyuan believes that it is an indisputable fact that Shanghai’s so-called precise epidemic prevention route has been terminated. This fact has once again confirmed that in the eyes of the CCP authorities, clearing and closing the city is not a medical issue, but a political issue.
(Comprehensive report by reporter Luo Tingting/responsible editor: Wen Hui)
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