WE CAN HOPE! The Collateral Damage in China’s COVID War: Are Beijing’s Harsh Measures Undermining Its Hold on Power? “Two and a half years into the pandemic, China is rapidly losing its battle to maintain its ‘zero COVID’ goal. The government’s total lockdown of Shanghai, its largest city and financial hub, has created economic chaos and engendered social backlash from tens of millions of residents who have been prevented from going outside, even to obtain food or to seek health care. Despite such protocols, the government was unable to prevent hundreds of thousands of new cases from emerging in the city during the lockdown, while causing much unnecessary hardship and suffering. Now a similar problem threatens the capital.”