WASHINGTON: China is likely to continue to impose sweeping shutdowns into 2023, the US ambassador said on Thursday, as he warned that the zero-Covid strategy is hurting business. .
“I think we are going to have to live with this for a long time. My own assumption is that we will see a continuation of zero-Covid possibly as early as 2023,” the Ambassador said. Nicholas Burns Talk to Brookings Institution.
Burn, tell Washington think tank followed a video link from Beijing, saying the lockdowns are disrupting supply chains and making foreign businesses wait before considering further investment.
“This is just a market that’s too important for countries to leave, so we don’t see many companies leaving locks, warehouses and crates,” Burn speak.
But from his conversations with U.S. businesses, Burns said, “I think there’s a lot of hesitation in investing in future obligations until they see the end of this. ”
The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said in a recent survey that a quarter of US companies are scaling back investment plans and nearly all have reduced their revenue forecasts after the business center was shut down. close the door.
Covid-19 was first detected in the final days of 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which has rarely seen expressions of public anger over the government’s failure to contain the contagion. its orchid.
Since then, Beijing has vowed to defeat the global pandemic and is the only major economy trying to contain any cases, imposing mass testing requirements and forcing millions of people at once. I have to stay at home.
Burns said that the strikes also hampered diplomacy with China, whose relationship with the United States he recently described as falling to its lowest point since the establishment of relations half a century ago.
“It would be difficult to convince any of my colleagues in Washington to come here if I told them that if they did, they would have to quarantine for 14 days before they could have a single meeting,” he said.
“I think we are going to have to live with this for a long time. My own assumption is that we will see a continuation of zero-Covid possibly as early as 2023,” the Ambassador said. Nicholas Burns Talk to Brookings Institution.
Burn, tell Washington think tank followed a video link from Beijing, saying the lockdowns are disrupting supply chains and making foreign businesses wait before considering further investment.
“This is just a market that’s too important for countries to leave, so we don’t see many companies leaving locks, warehouses and crates,” Burn speak.
But from his conversations with U.S. businesses, Burns said, “I think there’s a lot of hesitation in investing in future obligations until they see the end of this. ”
The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said in a recent survey that a quarter of US companies are scaling back investment plans and nearly all have reduced their revenue forecasts after the business center was shut down. close the door.
Covid-19 was first detected in the final days of 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which has rarely seen expressions of public anger over the government’s failure to contain the contagion. its orchid.
Since then, Beijing has vowed to defeat the global pandemic and is the only major economy trying to contain any cases, imposing mass testing requirements and forcing millions of people at once. I have to stay at home.
Burns said that the strikes also hampered diplomacy with China, whose relationship with the United States he recently described as falling to its lowest point since the establishment of relations half a century ago.
“It would be difficult to convince any of my colleagues in Washington to come here if I told them that if they did, they would have to quarantine for 14 days before they could have a single meeting,” he said.
