China’s zero-Covid policy threatens global supply chain, says Huawei exec

theguardian.com:

A top Huawei executive has broken ranks to warn that China’s stringent zero-Covid policy may trigger “massive losses” for the tech industry, putting the country’s economy as well as the global supply chain at greater risk.

“If Shanghai cannot resume production by May, all of the tech and industrial players who have supply chains in the area will come to a complete halt, especially the automotive industry,” Richard Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei’s consumer and auto division said in a WeChat post. “That will pose severe consequences and massive losses for the whole industry.”

The comments from Huawei, a bastion of China’s tech industry, underline growing tensions as the country attempts to eliminate Covid by locking down Shanghai. As lockdown continues in the key financial hub and home to the world’s largest container port, economists have warned of heavy costs to both Asia’s biggest economy and the global supply chain.

In recent days, Beijing has repeatedly reaffirmed its plan to handle Covid, which has been under heavy scrutiny as case numbers continue to rise in Shanghai despite a severe lockdown. In a news bulletin on state TV on Wednesday, President Xi Jinping urged his officials not to relax the pandemic control work.

“Persistence is victory. Adhere to people above all else, life above all else … dynamic zero-Covid, grasp the details of the epidemic prevention and control initiatives,” Xi said, adding that “it is necessary to overcome paralysing thoughts, war weariness, fluke mentality and slack mentality”.

But economists warned that the ongoing lockdown in Shanghai – if it persists for this month alone – will cost China’s most populous city and a key financial hub a 6% loss of GDP, which translates to 2% loss of GDP for