The head of China’s top health body received the most “no” votes of cabinet officials confirmed at the National People’s Congress, signaling a level of dissatisfaction among top lawmakers over President Xi Jinping’s draconian Covid Zero policy.
(Bloomberg) — The head of China’s top health body received the most “no” votes of cabinet officials confirmed at the National People’s Congress, signaling a level of dissatisfaction among top lawmakers over President Xi Jinping’s draconian Covid Zero policy.
Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission, received 21 objections and eight abstentions for his reappointment in Sunday’s voting, the most objections among 26 minister-level candidates.
The almost 3,000 delegates voted to renominate the heads of the finance and commerce ministries as well as the central bank in a surprise decision aimed at boosting investor confidence and steering the nation’s post-Covid recovery.
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Usually there is only one candidate in voting for the top positions of government and objections are extremely rare, making the number of no and abstention ballots a potential indicator of unease with the nominees. The new heads of the defense and foreign ministries got 100% support.
Ma, who was first appointed to be the NHC’s head in 2018, has been one of the key health officials beating the drum for the Covid Zero strategy, which relied on mass testing and lockdowns to eradicate the virus.
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Last April, he called for “taking a clear-cut stance in opposing the wrongful thoughts of living with virus” in a Communist Party paper’s front-page commentary. As late as November, prior to a policy U-turn, Ma and his commission damped down speculation that the country was studying ways to exit Covid Zero.
Xi’s signature policy ended a month later following a wave of protests. The abrupt pivot led to huge Covid outbreaks across the country and at least tens of thousands of deaths.
–With assistance from Lucille Liu, Lin Zhu and Yanping Li.
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