China’s leaders ponder an economy without lockdowns—or crackdowns

Each december the leaders of China’s Communist Party gather to discuss their “economic work” for the year ahead. The lengthy statement they then release to the public provides a clue to their thinking and priorities. But by the time the leaders met on December 15th and 16th in Beijing, the most fateful economic choice of the next 12 months had .Whether by accident or design, local officials did not impose lockdowns in November on anything like the scale required to stop a widespread covid-19 outbreak. Their decision, if that is what it can be called, has brought an abrupt end to China’s “zero-covid” policy. Now unable to defeat the virus, China’s central government says it is too mild to be worth vanquishing.