Beijing’s communist rulers have been moving to slowly relaunch the economy, which plunged dramatically as draconian measures were imposed to halt the virus’s spread. In addition to containment efforts, China’s leadership is now working eagerly to deflect blame for the outbreak and formulate alternative facts to the ones widely reported around the globe. While the world’s attention was focused elsewhere, China used the COVID-19 crisis to quietly arrest Hong Kong residents and demote the official in charge of the Hong Kong office, replacing him with a dedicated ally of President Xi Jinping. No one will ever know how many additional deaths resulted from the determination of China’s leadership to protect itself at the expense of others. If anything, the pandemic has heightened the determination of its unelected rulers to protect their powers and toughen their controls.

Source: National Post April 03, 2020 19:47 UTC