Covid tweaking; PRC-Tanzania; Worries about state-run canteens; US-China
Look for two new podcasts from me in the next couple of days- the weekly Sharp China podcast will be out Friday AM ET, and a new episode of the very sporadic Sinocism Podcast will be out over the weekend, this one a deep dive into the 20th Party Congress with Chris Johnson.
Summary of today’s top items:
Covid - The NHC’s reiteration of dynamic Zero-Covid yesterday was not surprising, but they are also not the ones who would announce a fundamental change in the policy, so while I remain skeptical of the rumors earlier this week the NHC reiteration does not mean they were wrong. Some local governments are saying they will place more emphasis on precise epidemic prevention and end indiscriminate and endless control and restrictions. That is not a sign of a change from dynamic zero-Covid but a sign of calibration to try to end some of the strangulation of economic activity. It sounds positive in principle, unless/until cases start surging and then local governments will likely go back to b…