Beijing shut parks, malls and museums on Tuesday while more Chinese cities resumed mass testing for COVID-19. This news follows China’s move to rescind restrictions last week.
China reported 28,127 new domestically transmitted cases for Monday, nearing its daily peak from April, with infections in the southern city of Guangzhou and the southwestern municipality of Chongqing accounting for about half the total. The wave of infections is testing recent adjustments China has made to its zero-COVID-19 policy, aimed at making authorities more targeted in clampdown measures and steering them away from blanket lockdowns and testing that have strangled the economy and frustrated residents.
Some analysts are saying 20% of China’s economy is being negatively impacted by the lockdowns.
China’s Oil Front Amid Lockdowns
Analysts are cutting forecasts for China’s year-end oil demand after cases surged to near record levels, forcing authorities to reinstate mobility curbs, and delaying recovery at the world’s top crude importer.
“We cautiously lower our expectations for China demand by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 4Q ’22,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note. “Confidence remains high in a 2Q 23 China reopening.”
Sun Jianan, an analyst with consultancy Energy Aspects, also revised down China’s oil demand forecasts, by 200,000 bpd for November and December, and 190,000 bpd for the fourth quarter to 14.45 million bpd.
Big Trouble in Little China
The Wall Street Journal reports that a few days before Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s summit last week with President Biden, Beijing dispatched a delegation of senior policy advisers and business executives to New York to meet with a U.S. counterpart group set up by insurance executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. Such a high-level group hasn’t come to the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and in that time, U.S.-China relations plunged.
Distrust between the two countries is still high, but Xi’s approval of the delegation’s visit signals his intention to prevent the relations from going off the rails and to find a way to communicate.
Chinese officials begin meeting with counterparts from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, for the first time in months.
More on China:
China Looks to Move Away from Strict COVID-19 Restrictions as Imports, Exports Slow
U.S. Relations with China to “Elevate” Following Biden, Jingping’s First Face-to-Face Meeting on Monday
China Cites U.S. Ag for Why It’s Chosen Not to Invade Taiwan
