China's Xi urges officials to 'resolutely fight' those who question zero-Covid policy
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping headed a meeting of top leaders on Thursday that emphasized the country should stick to its «dynamic zero-Covid» policy, and warned that economic consequences would follow if it doesn't, according to state media.
The officials called on the country to unify behind the Chinese Communist Party central committee's decisions, and «resolutely fight» against all questioning of virus control policies, state media said.
The leaders at Thursday's meeting were the central committee's Politburo standing committee — a close group of officials around Xi. Last Friday, the broader Politburo held a regular meeting that upheld the zero-Covid policy, while calling for support for the economic growth target.
The last time Xi held a meeting of the standing committee about the virus in March, the readout mentioned how control measures should reduce the impact on the economy as much as possible, said Ting Lu, chief China economist at the Japanese investment bank Nomura.
References to balancing such a policy with economic growth weren't included in the latest meeting's readout, he said.
Thursday's meeting discussed how relaxing virus prevention and control measures would lead to large-scale infections, serious illness and death, while the economy and the safety and health of people would be seriously affected.
«We have won the battle to defend Wuhan, and can certainly win the battle to defend Shanghai,» read the official Chinese-language meeting readout, translated by CNBC.
The comments should be taken in the context of last Friday's Politburo meeting, and seen more as an attempt to unify the country around the zero-Covid policy, said Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategy research at China Renaissance, a
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