Modeling by The Economist puts the death toll from suddenly stopping lockdowns in China at somewhere between half a million and 1.5 million. Best guess is towards the top of that.
A normal country would have gotten ready for this before doing it. They would have vaccinated as many of the at risk people as possible. They would have stockpiled anti-viral drugs. They would not have done it during the Winter (when people are huddled together), and not right before the Chinese New Year(when people are moving around, especially going back to the countryside). They would have gotten as many emergency beds ready as possible. Finally, they would have done it slowly.
All this could have reduced China's death toll to less than 70,000... But China did none of it.
Xi's argument for remaining in power is that supposedly he and the party are extremely competent. I am guessing that over the next three months many Chinese people will question that competence.
A normal country would have gotten ready for this before doing it. They would have vaccinated as many of the at risk people as possible. They would have stockpiled anti-viral drugs. They would not have done it during the Winter (when people are huddled together), and not right before the Chinese New Year(when people are moving around, especially going back to the countryside). They would have gotten as many emergency beds ready as possible. Finally, they would have done it slowly.
All this could have reduced China's death toll to less than 70,000... But China did none of it.
Xi's argument for remaining in power is that supposedly he and the party are extremely competent. I am guessing that over the next three months many Chinese people will question that competence.