In its single-minded pursuit of the “zero Covid” strategy, the Chinese government was omnipresent and omnipotent, using its unlimited resources and unchecked power to control the nation. After having nearly exhausted its resources and the good will of the public, the government has now simply disappeared, just as many Chinese are getting very ill with the virus or dying from it. …

For a powerful government that likes to brag about its command of the country and has published a four-volume compilation of speeches and articles by its top leader titled “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China,” the absence of direction at a moment of crisis has made the public question the legitimacy and the credibility of the Chinese Communist Party.

It also highlights a crucial but not always obvious distinction in leadership.

“The ability to control is different from the ability to govern,” Chen Tianyong, an entrepreneur, wrote on his social media WeChat timeline last week.

[Strange. It’s as if the regime has suffered a fit of pique and taken its ball and gone home. One might have thought that Beijing couldn’t have done worse than its zero-COVID policies in undermining trust in the regime, and yet they’re almost trying to discredit themselves now. — Ed]