Crash project to build a 1,000 bed hospital in Wuhan
"People's War" on the virus; Expanding quarantine efforts
by Bill Bishop
The People’s Daily said in a front page commentary 打响疫情防控的人民战争 Tuesday that the country is in a “People’s War” with the virus. So far the virus continues its advance, per the latest official figures from Caixin:
20,522 confirmed cases in China;
426 deaths in China;
23,214 suspected cases in China
Do not be surprised to see a jump over the next few days in Wuhan and Hubei cases as the number of hospital beds and quarantine facilities increase, more medical personnel arrive from other provinces and testing capacity improves.
The propaganda organs are all emphasizing Xi’s leading role in responding to the outbreak, but there have been no new images of him in the leading propaganda outlets since January 28. There have been periods in the past where he has “disappeared” from view for several days, but this “absence” in the midst of a crisis is spurring rumors even faster than usual.
I am not buying the rumors going around that he is sick or been removed in a coup, and I caution readers against putting much stock in those.
One of the key political tasks of all party members is to protect the core, i.e. Xi Jinping, and while you would think the “people’s leader” would want to be seen close to the people perhaps in this case the risk of him catching the virus may be too high, and images of him wearing a mask might be anathema to the propaganda wizards.
That said, I do not know what is going on, it is something I am paying a lot of attention to, but in the absence of any evidence I remain skeptical of the rumors. I will bet that Xi and the other top leaders in the Party and the military understand that they either all hang together in this crisis or they may all hang separately, to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin.
This is a long issue, I recommend you click on the headline at the top of this post to read it in full in your browser. Thanks for reading.
- Bill Bishop
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