China's influential ex-minister's daughter criticizes Xi Jinping's zero-Covid policy

Beijing [China], June 13 : Youngest daughter of Luo Ruiqing, Luo Diandian criticized the Chinese President Xi Jinping's zero-Covid policy which resulted in widespread condemnation.
Diandian's letter to a certain "Ma Xiaoli" has been widely shared on non-mainstream Hong Kong media websites, Chinese news youtube channels and telegram groups in which she criticizes Xi's Covid policy without naming him, reported the local media.
Luo Ruiqing was China's first Minister of Public Security and is often attributed as the one who created China's Security and Police apparatus.
He also served as the Chief of Joint staff from 1959 to 1965 including the time when Sino-Indian War happened. Despite all this Luo Ruiqing was purged during the Cultural Revolution because he opposed it, added the local media.
Diandian noted that "The dynamic clearing policy obviously violates the basic practice of the ninth edition of the COVID diagnosis and treatment plan formulated by experts. It does not conform to the mutation characteristics of the novel coronavirus, and it lacks basic scientific thinking."
The draconian lockdown norms enforced as part of a zero-Covid policy resulted in dire living conditions given that the lockdown prevents them from even stepping out of their houses to meet their daily necessities, or they otherwise face beatings by the police.
"It breaks the common sense that professional problems are handled by experts. The direct use of the party's system to implement executive orders is to break the routine of the state's administrative operations. Of course, this has brought about the lack of separation of responsibilities, chaotic government orders, and out-of-control management, which not only undermines the enthusiasm of cadres at all levels who really want to do things well, leaving them at a loss as to what to do," said Diandian.
The era of Xi Jinping has been marked by controversial measures like the crackdown on corruption, punishing over a million officials, and weeding out efficient officials in the process. Reliability and loyalty are now the only criteria for heading public- and private-sector organizations.
She further noted that "Not only the infected people are strictly isolated, but the huge crowds in close contact and sub-close contact are completely isolated, and unreasonably centralized control is imposed. Such extreme measures disrupted the normal order of the whole society. In the daily life of ordinary people, it has caused huge difficulties in all aspects such as earning a living, education, seeing a doctor, employment, and even basic housing and three meals a day."
Observers believe this is one of the reasons why the pandemic situation has been mismanaged, leading to food shortages in cities like Shanghai and Xi'an and the specter of a crop failure in rural areas.
"It makes me feel ashamed and humiliated to think that they, who still have some power in their hands, didn't even organize a decent "boycott" when they and most people were treated so unfairly," she added.