05-05-2022, 11:23 AM
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commenta...me-2663321
The government of China does not have the legitimacy that flows from winning an election. But officials in China often claim that the Communist Party benefits from something even better: “Performance legitimacy”.
The idea that the Chinese government easily outperforms the dysfunctional West has been pushed hard during the COVID-19 crisis. At a ceremony in 2020, President Xi Jinping proclaimed that “the pandemic once again proves the superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics”.
On the first anniversary of the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, the city hosted an exhibition on China’s successful battle against the disease, featuring, as the BBC reported, “models of medical workers in hazmat suits . . . and everywhere you look, giant portraits of Xi Jinping”.
But Xi’s triumphalism is coming back to haunt him. The “zero-COVID” policy is breaking down.
The government of China does not have the legitimacy that flows from winning an election. But officials in China often claim that the Communist Party benefits from something even better: “Performance legitimacy”.
The idea that the Chinese government easily outperforms the dysfunctional West has been pushed hard during the COVID-19 crisis. At a ceremony in 2020, President Xi Jinping proclaimed that “the pandemic once again proves the superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics”.
On the first anniversary of the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, the city hosted an exhibition on China’s successful battle against the disease, featuring, as the BBC reported, “models of medical workers in hazmat suits . . . and everywhere you look, giant portraits of Xi Jinping”.
But Xi’s triumphalism is coming back to haunt him. The “zero-COVID” policy is breaking down.