"Why is China still pursuing a zero-COVID policy?" is something that has troubled me almost daily the last year.
Western discourse seems mostly uninterested in the topic, but it seems worth digging into the logic.
It's the largest contrarian bet in the world the last 18 months
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One possibility is that they’re not really running a zero-COVID policy. It’s all theatre
The optimal strategy is to deploy massive health interventions to pacify the public (tough on Covid, etc) but actually keep the economy open & running
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Side bonus, your theatre convinces your geopolitical adversaries to actually lockdown their society and economy, causing unrest & hardship
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This. China openly ending restrictions would make it difficult for the West to maintain lockdown, which is enfeebling and destabilizing. China as a hacking superpower and exporter of social credit tech also benefits from rising authoritarianism and digital passport systems.