SINGAPORE—China’s leader
Xi Jinping
offered a rare acknowledgment of the difficulties that three years of pandemic controls—which were abruptly lifted this month—have imposed on the Chinese population. He called for more determination and promised better times ahead.
“It has not been an easy journey for anyone,” Mr. Xi said during his annual New Year’s Eve speech to the nation on Saturday. “Everyone is holding on with great fortitude, and the light of hope is right in front of us.”
Earlier this month, China quickly dismantled many of the key elements of the Covid-19 prevention regime that has governed daily life for China’s people over the past three years, including mass testing, lockdowns and quarantines. This week, authorities said they would remove many of the last remaining restrictions, including those governing international travel.
In a tacit acknowledgment of protests against Covid-19 restrictions in late November, Mr. Xi referred to diverse opinions among the public and called for unity.
Leader Xi Jinping said in his his New Year’s Eve speech on Saturday that China’s economy was doing well.
Photo:
Ju Peng/Zuma Press
“Ours is a big country. It is only natural for different people to have different concerns or hold different views on the same issue,” Mr. Xi said, urging “consensus through communication and consultation.”
Earlier this month, Mr. Xi told visiting European officials that the protests were mainly created by students and reflected frustration about Covid-related restrictions in the past three years.
As China has lifted those measures, tens of millions of Chinese are thought to have been infected with Covid-19, leading to shortages of antiviral drugs and basic fever medicines, while swamping hospital emergency rooms and crematoria across the country. The economy has taken a blow as sick workers bring factory and service-sector activity to a halt.
In an editorial this week, the Communist Party-owned tabloid Global Times…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at WSJ.com: World News…