BEIJING (AP) 鈥� As China鈥檚 ruling Communist Party this week, many Beijing residents are focused on an issue not on the formal agenda: Will the end of the meeting bring an easing of China's at times draconian 鈥渮ero-COVID鈥� policies that are disrupting lives and ?
It appears to be wishful thinking. As the world moves to a post-pandemic lifestyle, many across China have resigned themselves to several times a week for COVID-19 tests, restrictions on their travels to other regions, and the ever-present possibility of a community lockdown.
鈥淭here is nothing we can do,鈥� Zhang Yiming, 51, said this week at a park in Beijing. 鈥淚f we look at the situation abroad, like the United States where have died, right? In China, although it is true that some aspects of our life are not convenient, such as travel and economy, it seems that there is no good solution.鈥�
People are looking to the party congress, which ends Saturday, for two reasons. The meeting, which is held every five years and for the next five, can send signals of possible changes in policy direction.
Secondly, authorities always tighten controls 鈥� COVID-19 and otherwise 鈥� before and during a major event to try to eliminate disruptions or distractions, so they could relax controls when the event ends.
Any hopes for an easing, though, appear to have been dashed before the congress. The Communist Party鈥檚 newspaper, the People鈥檚 Daily, published a series of opinion pieces on the effectiveness of China鈥檚 鈥渮ero-COVID鈥� approach, and health officials said last week China must stick with it.
China's leader, Xi Jinping, praised the policy at of the congress. He said it had prioritized and protected people鈥檚 health and safety and made a 鈥渢remendous achievement in striking the balance between epidemic response and economic and social development.鈥�
After an initial outbreak in early 2020 that people and overflowed hospitals and morgues, China was largely successful in taming the virus while other countries were overwhelmed with it 鈥� a contrast trumpeted in Communist Party propaganda.
Then came omicron in late 2021. China had to employ ever more to control the faster-spreading variant, locking down entire cites and starting regular testing of many if not most of the entire population of 1.4 billion people.
The measures have bred simmering discontent, fed by instances of harsh enforcement that in some cases had .
During a two-month last spring, videos widely shared on social media showed officials breaking down apartment doors to drag unwilling residents to quarantine facilities. Children were also separated from their parents, because one or the other was infected.
Instances of hospitals denying treatment because of pandemic rules sparked outrage, including a woman in labor who after she wasn't allowed into a hospital during a lockdown of the city of Xi'an because she couldn't show a negative COVID-19 test result.
While public protests are relatively rare in China, some people took to the and the northeastern city of Dandong to protest harsh and prolonged lockdowns.
Last week, three days before the congress opened, over an elevated roadway calling for Xi鈥檚 overthrow and an end to the 鈥渮ero-COVID鈥� policy. The incident spilled over into at least one other city, where photos shared on Twitter showed similar statements posted on a bus stop in Xi鈥檃n.
Andy Chen, senior analyst at Trivium China, a Beijing-headquartered policy consultancy, said restrictions beyond the party congress should come as no surprise.
鈥淎ll the conditions that have forced the government to put zero-COVID in place haven鈥檛 really changed,鈥� he said, singling out the lack of an effective vaccine and the absence of sound home quarantine rules.
Even though vaccines are widely available, China's don't work as well as the Pfizer, Moderna and other shots developed elsewhere. China also has resisted vaccine mandates, keeping down vaccination rates. As of mid-October, 90% had received two shots, but only 57% had a booster shot.
Beijing authorities have on the hardline coronavirus policies during the congress.
Highway checkpoints into the city are heavily policed, with all entrants required to show a 鈥済reen鈥� code on a mobile phone app to prove they haven鈥檛 traveled to medium or high-risk areas.
Some express commuter bus lines between Beijing and neighboring Tianjin city and Hebei province have been suspended since Oct. 12.
Anyone who has been in a city, district, or neighborhood where even one case of coronavirus has been found within seven days is banned from entering the Chinese capital.
Within the city, the daily lives of residents are dictated by their health codes. They must use an app to scan the QR code of any facility they enter to show their status and log their whereabouts.
People are not allowed into office buildings, shopping malls, restaurants and other public places without a green code and a negative coronavirus test result within 72 hours, and sometimes less. The policy means most of Beijing鈥檚 21 million-plus residents take a coronavirus test at least two to three times a week.
And there is always the risk of a sudden lockdown. Officials in hazmat suits guarded entries to gated communities this week in Fengtai district, where five neighborhoods have been categorized as high-risk. Residents were not allowed to leave their compounds, and some shops were forced to close.
While the party congress has not provided the watershed moment that some have been hoping for, it may turn out to be the point at which the government begins to lay the groundwork for a long process of loosening restrictions, said Dr. Yanzhong Huang, director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University and an expert on public health in China.
Some factors suggest the government will be in no rush to open up, including a broad acceptance of the policy among those who are inconvenienced but have not experienced prolonged or repeated lockdowns.
鈥淭he vast, vast majority of the population goes on with their lives, unaffected, and that鈥檚 a much better policy from the government perspective to implement than, for example, forcing a vaccine mandate through the population,鈥� Chen said.
But Huang noted growing signs of social instability, especially among the middle class and urban residents.
鈥淚 think the question is whether it has reached a tipping point that people really find this is not acceptable anymore," he said. "We cannot tolerate that anymore. It remains to be seen even in the large cities, you know, how people are willing to tolerate draconian measures.鈥�
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Ji reported from Bangkok. Associated Press video producers Olivia Zhang and Wayne Zhang contributed.
Emily Wang And Tian Ji, The Associated Press
