Thinking About China
Opinion

China’s Reopening Will Face Delays

China’s Reopening Will Face Delays
People celebrate the new year with fireworks on a beach in Houhai, in Sanya in China's southern Hainan Province, on Jan. 1, 2023. Hector Rectamal/AFP via Getty Images
Milton Ezrati
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Commentary

Beijing has bowed to public pressure and abandoned its Zero-COVID lockdowns and quarantines. The anticipated “reopening” has caused a stir of optimism. However, China’s immediate economic prospects look pretty bad after a tough fourth quarter and with surging COVID-19 cases. The economic lift from the end of Zero-COVID will likely wait until later in the spring and perhaps not until the second half of 2023.

Milton Ezrati
Milton Ezrati
Author
Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is “Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live.”
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