Foreign businesses advise Beijing to ease the blockade, worry about vaccinating people

The road is empty because it is located next to an area that is being blocked because of COVID-19 in Chaoyang district, Beijing capital on April 27 – Photo: REUTERS

According to the newspaper New York Times, a survey by the European Union Chamber of Commerce (EUCC) shows that the assessment of European businesses in China has deteriorated since January 2022. At that time, an EUCC survey showed that businesses were still mostly optimistic and planned to invest more.

Joerg Wuttke, EUCC president, said that the business community had a “bad luck double” in February and March 2022 with the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine and the lockdown measures due to COVID-19 in China. These two events had a huge impact.

The survey, conducted from April 20 to 26, highlights new figures on the supply chain impact of China’s COVID-19 lockdown.

Supply chain effects such as trucking service disruptions, factory shutdowns are affecting competitiveness cChina as a global manufacturing hub and magnet for Western investment and technology transfer.

There are 372 enterprises participating in the survey. 92% of enterprises responded that China’s anti-COVID-19 measures have interfered with the supply chain. Lockdowns in dozens of cities and other measures have made China a less attractive place to invest, with more than three-quarters of businesses responding to the survey.

91% of businesses that responded to the survey said that China should focus less on the blockade and should vaccinate the entire population, especially the elderly, people over 80 years old. These are the people who are least likely to get vaccinated in China even though they are the most vulnerable to the virus.

The survey also showed that 82% of businesses want China to allow people with mild or no symptoms of COVID-19 to rest at home.

Currently, China requires infected people to go to hospitals or temporary isolation facilities.

Two-fifths of European businesses surveyed are based in or near Shanghai. 1/4 in Beijing or near Beijing, where the blockade of some neighborhoods began in the last days of the survey.

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