Shanghai COVID-19 crisis puts political spotlight on key Xi ally

The party bosses in Wuhan, where COVID-19 was first detected, and surrounding Hubei province, were replaced in 2020. At least 31 officials in the northwestern city of Xian were punished this year after an outbreak that led to lockdown.
Shanghai has punished at least 25 officials during its outbreak.
But none of those Shanghai officials were above the district level and the most senior Xian official punished was the health chief.
"The people who will be blamed for the debacle in Shanghai will be those who are politically dispensable," said Charles Parton, a former British diplomat and senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank.
Alfred Wu, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, said officials elsewhere "would've been gone by now".
"But because of Li's closeness with Xi, his potential usefulness to Xi as a chess piece in the new leadership lineup, and because the Shanghai party boss is of a much higher rank than the party bosses of most other cities in China, Li is going to be safe."
"STEADFASTLY PERSIST"
Li has repeatedly appeared on state media visiting residential compounds and hospitals, wearing an N95 mask, black jacket and pants – the de facto uniform for party leaders in the field.
At every appearance, he reiterates the message: "We must resolutely implement the spirit of the important instructions by Party Secretary Xi Jinping and steadfastly persist in the dynamic-zero approach".
Although the city still reports thousands of COVID-19 cases daily, the Standing Committee said on Thursday (May 5) it believes the party can "surely win the battle of Shanghai", powered by Xi's COVID-19 policy.
"If Shanghai's COVID fight were to be billed as a success, then why should Li, steadfastly implementing Xi's approach leading to this success, be punished?", said Chen Daoyin, former associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, now a commentator based in Chile.
No senior officials have publicly questioned Xi's zero-COVID policy, which has been increasingly strained by the infectiousness of the Omicron variant and further isolated China as the rest of the world learns to live with the coronavirus.
Artmotion Asia