Covid out break in China

[blackfeather]

Having beaten the Russian horse to death how about China?

www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-reports-most-daily-covid-cases-2020-lockdowns-spread

The number of newly confirmed COVID cases in China has continued to climb Tuesday, as local authorities reported more than 3,000 cases in the locked-down Province of Jilin alone.......
The cases reported outside Jilin were distributed across 20 provinces, including in China's economic powerhouses Guangdong province, which recorded 48 local symptomatic cases, and in Shanghai, which had nine........
Meanwhile, Langfang, situated in the northern Hebei province near Beijing, has been locked down. Two other cities, Shanghai and Xi'an, have put in place some lockdown measures.......
China has quashed COVID outbreaks before, including an earlier omicron wave, but none has grown as big as the current surge. Beijing said that containing the current outbreak has been difficult because of the population's high vaccination rates, and the relatively mild symptoms caused by omicron........
The economic fallout has sent Chinese stocks tumbling to lows not seen in years as the lockdown in Shenzhen rattles the country's tech sector.
....... putting further strain on global supply chains.

Does something look wrong to you?  Locking down on a disease so mild they are having trouble detecting it in time?  With so few cases 9 and 48? Locking down major economic sectors?  Putting more strain on supply chains.  Why not give them ivermectin and send them back to work why the lock downs?

Here is the conspiracy theory, is this on purpose, using the cover of disease to apply, if you will, shadow sanctions on the US?  Purposely disrupting our economy?   

[Ozarks Tom]

With the Chinese you can't take anything at face value. Sometimes it seems like they'd rather lie when the truth fit better.

My worry would be they've let loose either a new more virulent strain of Covid, or they've let loose an entirely different virus but don't want the world to know before air travel from China is shut down again.

You never know, they might put high importance on the November elections and keeping the democrats in power, and are instigating another "vote by mail" mandate across the country.

[Jolly]

It's Omicron. Not even the new variant.

The Chinese have a zero-COVID policy.

[blackfeather]

Mar 16, 2022 17:10:52 GMT Jolly said:

It's Omicron. Not even the new variant.

The Chinese have a zero-COVID policy.

Curious, do the Chinese have a zero-flu policy?  The Omicron is no worse than a regular flu and may be milder.  If the flu is okay to let run rampant then why the concern over something equal or less than the flu?  My conspiratorial mind is twitching.   Is it also just a coincidence that this comes right on the heels of the US threatening China if they were support Russia?   Is this an off handed way to punish the US for the threats?

[blackfeather]

We also know that China is currently in a position where putting pressure on the global economy may not be the worst idea in the world for them - after all, they are trying to institute their own reserve currency with other BRIC nations, and one way to force pain onto the West is to disrupt the supply of everyday goods.....

While the question of on-purpose lockdowns for supply chain reasons sounds like a conspiracy theory by itself, when taken in context with the facts that:

China is creating its own global reserve currency

China has spent a decade de-dollarizing with Russia

China appears ready to re-take Taiwan

China may be stockpiling far more gold than people think


China continues spying on the U.S.

…it all of a sudden doesn’t seem like it would be out of the canon of their potential plans to usurp the U.S. as a global super power.

And lockdowns do have a profound effect on the rest of the world’s ability to get products.......

And the extremely interesting kicker is that lead times are only crushed for the U.S., as we desperately wait for China’s imports to go about our daily lives. In China, you can see that the impact on manufacturing delivery times has hardly budged after the initial set of Covid lockdowns:

www.zerohedge.com/markets/dont-look-now-china-just-locked-down-million-wuhan-residents-again

Additionally, the English-language government mouthpiece GT is now calling the five-day drill that have commenced a rehearsal for a "reunification operation" - and says that after Pelosi's provocative and damaging visit, "exercises blockading" Taiwan are to "become routine".

www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ballistic-missiles-soar-over-taiwan-hundreds-pla-fighters-breach-airspace-5-day-drills

Taking Taiwan would mean the end of trade with the US., at least that is what they would expect to happen.  If they are sanctioned I would expect them to say "screw you" and stop all trade regardless of the costs.  Xi told his people that they would have to suffer, he said that not too long ago.

[fixitguy]

......Taking Taiwan would mean the end of trade with the US., at least that is what they would expect to happen. If they are sanctioned I would expect them to say "screw you" and stop all trade regardless of the costs. Xi told his people that they would have to suffer, he said that not too long ago.....

Lot's of rubber is made in Taiwan. I'm a Oregon dealer, all of my tire tubes are made in Taiwan or Vietnam. It's been hit and miss if they have them in stock from week to week.
My Nephew went to the tire shop one of my SIL manages for some 225/70/15 tires today........ZERO and this is a large tire center. She said they don't know when they can get them.

[Jolly]

Lots of Chinese tires on the market, too. Another industry we've just about lost. Used to be an Armstrong plant about 50 miles from here, employing a couple of hundred people or more.

Like others, now gone...