For more than a month, the Chinese head of state and party leader had been silent about the corona disaster in the People's Republic that he had largely caused.
Now, in celebration of the Chinese New Year, Xi Jinping has been forced to step out of cover.
It is not surprising that he could not bring himself to admit mistakes.
But it takes a great deal of chutzpah to describe both the zero-Covid policy in place until December 6 and the rushed exact opposite as the “correct choice.”
Responsibility is "delegated"
Not even Xi will expect people to take what he had to say to them at face value.
But with his message he has set the tone for the foreseeable future.
The supply of the population is "optimized", whereby the responsibility for any difficulties is "delegated" from the central to the lower levels.
Something like that has a long tradition in China.
Xi may have lost respect within the Communist Party after his blatant Corona misstep.
But there are no signs of a loss of power there, nor is the question of changing the political system being asked within the population.
So the Führer can continue to pretend that he knows and can do everything.
And the subordinates will pretend to believe it.
Of course, it remains to be seen how long this will serve as a basis for political stability.