The ‘green code’ app: How China’s Zero COVID policy is turning cities, parks, restaurants and shops into digitised fortresses
In China, seemingly simple things still pose barriers and blocks.
Catching a train from Shanghai to Beijing used to be a very easy thing to do. The high-speed rail network here is impressive, the two open and international cities very well linked.
But times are still not ‘normal’ here, and that journey is now something of an undertaking.
We made the trip this week, arriving into Beijing during the 20th Party Congress of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. It’s a once every five year political meeting to choose the country’s top leaders.
If it’s the ‘Zero COVID’ agenda that dictates much of why things are so complicated, Congress has turbocharged it.
In order to simply board a train in Shanghai, we needed three so-called ‘green codes’ from three separate apps. Getting those required multiple tests, minimal contacts and a massive amount of uncertainty.
Taking a train in China is now beset with tests, apps, and queues
Green codes are essentially digitised proof you most likely don’t have COVID – we needed one from the Shanghai authorities, one from the Beijing authorities and a third so-called ‘green arrow’.
But simply testing negative isn’t always enough, people’s codes can change colour simply for travelling from another district or province where cases have been detected.
In short, travelling to Beijing felt a bit like trying to get into a digitised fortress.
It’s a snapshot of how Zero COVID is still dictating the lives of ordinary people.
In most places, you have to have a green code to be allowed to do pretty much anything; enter shops, restaurants, parks and playgrounds, even housing and office compounds.
It means people need a COVID-19 test at least every 2-3 days, testing centres can be found on street corners everywhere.
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This woman says she has not been able to visit her home town for over a year
While people are largely resigned to it, there are clear hints of frustration. One woman told me how she’s not been able to visit her home town for over a year, she’s too worried she’ll have to quarantine on returning home and disrupt her child’s schooling.
Everyone I spoke to said they would ideally like things to return to how they were.
In some places, though, tempers are fraying and patience is wearing thin. A few weeks ago in the province of Shenzhen, a group of people under lockdown clashed violently with those trying to enforce it. There have been rare instances of graffiti calling for an end to the rules.
And speaking out is very brave; criticising the Zero COVID agenda is seen as akin to criticising the government.
President Xi Jinping made it clear in a speech opening Congress that, for now at least, the policy is here to stay. Saving lives, he says, must come first.
A victory narrative will be needed in order to change course, and there’s no evidence one has been prepared.
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People supposed to be under lockdown clashed violently with those trying to enforce it
But it is no doubt causing concern at the highest level. The consumer economy has been crippled by the strict and sudden lock-downs, economic growth has slowed significantly, and youth unemployment is currently at record highs.
All these things have the potential to cause instability, and instability is arguably the Communist Party’s biggest fear.
With the exception of North Korea, China is the only country in the world on this path.
But there are costs to treading it, and beneath the control, cracks too.
Ukraine’s president is offering an olive branch to Donald Trump with a dramatic public message aimed at mending their relationship and ending Russia’s war.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy chose social media – the US leader’s favourite mode of communication – to make his point.
He did not go so far as to apologise for a fiery bust-up with Mr Trump at the Oval Office last Friday – a move that some members of the US administration have called for, even though it was the American president and his deputy JD Vance who laid into Mr Zelenskyy.
Instead, he described the encounter as “regrettable”, saying it “did not go the way it was supposed to be” and it was “time to make things right”.
Ukrainian forces fire a missile towards Russian troops near Chasiv Yar. Pic: Reuters
Most significantly though was his spelling out of a vision for the first stage of how Russia’s war with Ukraine could end.
Pushing back on false claims by Trump allies such as Elon Musk that Mr Zelenskyy wants an endless war, he said that Ukraine is committed to peace and is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
Crucially, he said: “We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky – ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure – and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same.”
Appealing to the US president’s ego, he praised Mr Trump’s “strong leadership” and repeated his gratitude for past American support – again responding to criticism from the American commander in chief and his team that he is not showing enough gratitude.
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He also said Kyiv was ready to sign a key minerals deal with Washington – something else Mr Trump is seeking.
This message appears to be an attempt by Mr Zelenskyy to steer his relationship with Mr Trump back on track and to map out his idea for an end to the war – a conflict that Ukraine did not seek but which was brought to its land by Russia’s invading forces.
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, before their Oval Office bust-up. Pic: AP
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Key now will be how the US president responds.
Will Mr Zelenskyy’s expression of regret and clear wish to end the war provide enough of an off-ramp for Mr Trump to defuse the row and – for the sake of Ukraine’s ability to defend itself – switch back on the flow of military assistance to the country?
Another major factor, of course, is how Vladimir Putin reacts and whether he could countenance a limited ceasefire in a war that he started and – unlike Mr Zelenskyy – appears to have no genuine desire to halt.
Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada have come into effect, as has an additional 10% on Chinese products, bringing the total import tax to 20%.
The US president confirmed the tariffs in a speech at the White House – and his announcement sent US and European stocks down sharply.
The tariffs will be felt heavily by US companies which have factories in Canada and Mexico, such as carmakers.
Mr Trump said: “They’re going to have a tariff. So what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.”
There’s “no room left” for a deal that would see the tariffs shelved if fentanyl flowing into the US is curbed by its neighbours, he added.
Mexico and Canada face tariffs of 25%, with 10% for Canadian energy, the Trump administration confirmed.
And tariffs on Chinese imports have doubled, raising them from 10% to 20%.
Canada announced it would retaliate immediately, imposing 25% tariffs on US imports worth C$30bn (£16.3bn). It added the tariffs would be extended in 21 days to cover more US goods entering the country if the US did not lift its sanctions against Canada.
China also vowed to retaliate and reiterated its stance that the Trump administration was trying to “shift the blame” and
“bully” Beijing over fentanyl flows.
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What is America’s trade position?
Mr Trump’s speech stoked fears of a trade war in North America, prompting a financial market sell-off.
Stock market indexes the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.48% and 2.64% respectively on Monday.
The share prices for automobile companies including General Motors, which has significant truck production in Mexico, Automaker and Ford also fell.
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Consumers in the US could see price hikes within days, an expert has said.
Gustavo Flores-Macias, a public policy professor at Cornell University, New York, said “the automobile sector, in particular, is likely to see considerable negative consequences”.
This is due to supply chains that “crisscross the three countries in the manufacturing process” and ” because of the expected increase in the price of vehicles, which can dampen demand,” he added.
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The Trump administration is gearing up to bring in other tariffs in the coming weeks.
On 2 April, reciprocal tariffs will take effect on all countries that impose duties on US products.
He is also considering 25% tariffs on goods from the EU “very soon” after claiming the bloc was created to “screw the United States”.
A truck has collided with a bus in southern Bolivia, killing at least 31 people, according to police – just two days after a deadly crash claimed at least 37 lives.
Officers said the bus rolled some 500m (1,640ft) down a ravine after the collision on Monday, which took place on the highway between Oruro, in the Bolivian Altiplano, and the highland mining city of Potosi.
The driver of the truck has been arrested, while the cause of the accident is under investigation.
Police spokesperson Limbert Choque said men and women were among the dead, and 22 people suffered injuries.
Rescue teams operating at the site of the crash. Pic: Bolivia’s attorney general/Reuters
Bolivia’s President, Luis Arce, expressed condolences for the victims on social media: “This unfortunate event must be investigated to establish responsibilities,” he said in a post on Facebook.
“We send our most sincere condolences to the bereaved families, wishing them the necessary strength to face these difficult times.”
The crash happened between Oruro and Potosi
On Saturday morning, a crash between two buses killed more than three dozen people in the same region.
It happened between Colchani and the city of Uyuni, a major tourist attraction and the world’s largest salt flat.
People stand near the wreckage of one of the two buses involved in a crash on Saturday. Pic: Reuters/Potosi Departmental Command
Coincidentally, one of the buses was heading to Oruro, where one of the most important carnival celebrations in Latin America is currently taking place.
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More than 30 people were also killed after a bus crash on 17 February.
In that crash, police said the driver appeared to have lost control of the vehicle, causing it to drop more than 800m (2,600ft) off a precipice in the southwestern area of Yocalla.
Bolivia’s mountainous, undermaintained and poorly supervised roads are some of the deadliest in the world, claiming an average 1,400 fatalities every year.
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