Just as the Russia-Ukraine war affects the world’s food and energy supply, China’s zero-COVID policy under the raging Omicron variant further threatens the global supply chain.
Chinese officials announced that as of March 15, Omicron has spread to 28 provinces in China, and at least 385 cities have reported confirmed cases.
Consequently, many cities are locked down or semi-closed to comply with the zero-COVID policy.
Dongguan, an important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, in the coastal province of Guangdong, adopted a 7-day lockdown on March 14. Factories, enterprises and industrial parks are restricted from business activities and cargo transport. Public transportation is suspended, non-essential traffic is banned, and unnecessary traveling out of the city is prohibited.
A Dongguan textile company owner Mr. Wang told The Epoch Times that the lockdown has caused the complete disruption of production logistics, “Even express delivery is halted, it’s all interrupted,” he said.
“We can only try not to take orders and wait for the epidemic to subside,” said Ms. Peng, owner of a hardware and mold accessories company in Dongguan.
Before the lockdown was imposed on March 14, a joint letter from 10 business owners was posted online calling for partial lifting of the measures to save the knitting industries in Dalang, “China’s Woolen Sweater Town,” in Dongguan city.
According to the letter, the local lockdown began in Dec. 2021, and the business has suffered tremendously and lost many customers.
On March 13, two major manufacturing hubs implemented a lockdown: Changchun, an auto industry town; and Shenzhen, a technology and financial center.
Consequently, automakers Volkswagen and Toyota, and more than 60 Taiwanese companies in Shenzhen, including Foxconn, had to stop production.
China insisted on the “dynamic Zero-COVID” policy as a containment measure in many cities, along with nationwide nucleic acid testing.
By Yi Ru
