Shenzhen and Dongguan have imposed citywide lockdowns for seven consecutive days in the wake of the latest outbreaks. Except for a small portion of retailers who sell daily necessities, all other retail stores and services have to shut down to make way for several rounds of citywide mandatory testing. The authorities announced they would strive to contain the spread within a single incubation period of the coronavirus.
Think about it. Hong Kong is now tasked with an overriding mission to combat the raging omicron outbreaks. With additional resources and manpower dispatched from the Chinese mainland, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region authority still complains about “insufficient manpower” for battling the pandemic. Guangdong province, on the other hand, is fighting on multiple fronts: Not only does it need to quell outbreaks in two big cities, but also support Hong Kong’s anti-pandemic drive and keep its own economy running smoothly. Guangdong clearly has to juggle multiples tasks with a heavier burden on its shoulders. It is currently fighting on four fronts.
Its first task is to help Hong Kong rapidly control the omicron spread. No sooner had Hong Kong declared a massive community outbreak, than Guangdong authorities acted swiftly in response to the directives of the central government to ensure a sufficient supply of medical resources and daily necessities to Hong Kong via railways, highways and waterways. At the same time, it dispatched approximately 100 medical workers to Hong Kong and mobilized medical personnel who are now on standby. The central authorities and other mainland provinces also have to rely on Guangdong to coordinate the transshipment of resources to Hong Kong. If Guangdong experiences major hiccups at this critical juncture, Hong Kong will be on the receiving end of the domino effect.
The difficulty lies not on insufficient money or resources, but the absence of a sense of responsibility among some officials and residents. Guangdong is in a more-precarious position, yet it has managed to juggle between aiding Hong Kong and fighting its own battle
Its second task is to extinguish the breeding grounds in Shenzhen and Dongguan, whose total population is more than three times that of Hong Kong’s. Simultaneous outbreaks in these two cities warrant a decisive and stringent response as it would be too late if new infections reached an exponential level similar to that of Hong Kong. These two cities of about 30 million people would live under a grave threat if the authorities failed to rein in the outbreaks quickly enough, God forbid, the consequences would be terrible, and the medical resources in all of Guangdong province would not be able to deal with it.
The province’s third task is to prevent the outbreak spilling over to neighboring provinces. With a total population exceeding 100 million people, Guangdong province, especially the Pearl River Delta, has frequent personnel exchanges with other parts of China. If the pandemic were to spread to other provinces, it would put tremendous pressure on pandemic prevention and control on a national level.
Guangdong’s fourth task is to ensure the smooth running of its economy. Guangdong has the largest economy among all provinces on the mainland, notably with a well-developed high-end manufacturing sector. Therefore, a shutdown of the province’s supply chains and industrial activities would severely affect China’s economy. Guangdong simply cannot take any chances.
On March 9, when Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, met with Hong Kong members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee in Beijing, he reaffirmed Guangdong’s unflinching support for Hong Kong’s uphill battle against the virus despite the province also facing huge challenges.
While announcing a citywide lockdown and the suspension of public transport, the Shenzhen authorities reaffirmed their pledge to ensure the stable and uninterrupted transportation of daily necessities to Hong Kong.
Li Xi, the Party leader of Guangdong province, urged his governing team to take the overall national situation into consideration when making anti-pandemic strategies, and offer full support for Hong Kong in repelling the pandemic. His team will act in accordance with the deployment of the central government to optimize the province’s own COVID-19 prevention and control mechanisms, to expand transportation links with Hong Kong and improve customs clearance efficiency, with the ultimate objective of safeguarding Hong Kong’s public health and social stability.
Upon completion of the two sessions held recently in Beijing, Xia convened the eighth and ninth anti-pandemic coordination meetings and requested the central authorities dispatch more personnel and materials to Hong Kong.
Just when Hong Kong is busy battling omicron, more than 160 medical experts from Guangdong province, including Shenzhen, have been assigned anti-pandemic work in Hong Kong, with many of them working 16 to 18 hours per day. Besides medical assistance, there are a large number of employees, customs and excise inspectors, truck drivers, etc., working round-the-clock for the anti-pandemic fight in Hong Kong.
Other mainland medical workers who are unable to make their way to Hong Kong are also doing their part to assist the city’s anti-pandemic initiatives. For instance, experts from the School of Medicine of Jinan University have established a hotline app group to provide health guidelines for Hong Kong residents. Some medical workers have compiled a checklist of anti-pandemic measures that can be taken at home; some have held Q&A sessions for the infected; and numerous alumni have joined hands to offer various services for Hong Kong residents.
A citywide lockdown will result in huge economic losses. Take Shenzhen, a city which generates a GDP of 7.58 billion yuan ($1.19 billion) per day: A week’s lockdown will cost nearly 50 billion yuan in GDP loss. Shenzhen is also a hub of foreign trade, with an average daily import and export volume of more than 8.3 billion yuan; the weeklong lockdown will incur a loss of more than 58 billion yuan in trade. Besides economic losses, a huge sum of money must also be set aside for fighting the pandemic.
However, the authorities of Guangdong province and Shenzhen city had no hesitation in taking the bold decision to impose citywide lockdowns. They strictly adhere to the principle of “putting people’s life above everything”, and coordinate closely with the Hong Kong authorities in fighting the virus. Their sense of responsibility, commitment, passion and capability are indeed admirable.
The inconvenience brought by the lockdown is palpable, but residents of Shenzhen and Dongguan have cooperated with the authorities and complied with the lockdown rules in full. There are innumerable “angels in white” who work on the anti-pandemic front line round-the-clock, and there are many civil servants, community officials and volunteers who defy the heat and fatigue to deliver daily necessities to various local communities, because they all know what they are coping with is not a job, but a battle.
What’s worrying is the possibility of anti-pandemic efforts going down the drain. Hong Kong media earlier reported a huge backlog of materials piled up at the city’s ferry terminal as a result of “insufficient manpower”. A case in point is the 410,000 sets of oximeters; it took 10 days for them to reach the hands of residents. Meanwhile, many members of the public let their guard down as they flocked to Big Wave Bay and Shek O Beach to cool off, and most of them did not bother to wear a mask, as if they were not aware of the severity of skyrocketing infections. How would those battling on the front line feel if they saw such things happening?
Xia demanded the mainland authorities continue to support the SAR government in fulfilling its responsibility for taking the lead in the COVID-19 fight, especially in strengthening interdepartmental coordination, enhancing treatment capabilities, improving the efficiency of material distribution and the construction of isolation/treatment facilities. This is a directive Hong Kong should heed.
Hong Kong is in a really difficult situation. But the difficulty lies not on insufficient money or resources, but the absence of a sense of responsibility among some officials and residents. Guangdong is in a more-precarious position, yet it has managed to juggle between aiding Hong Kong and fighting its own battle. Hong Kong has a long way to catch up in order to be as praiseworthy as Guangdong.
The author is a Hong Kong member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Hong Kong New Era Development Thinktank.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
