Coronavirus: Case spike, supply fears spark panic buying in China
Chinese citizens have ignored mixed messaging from the state, stripping shelves bare. Some are viewing it as a warning for a potential war with Taiwan.
Chinese citizens have continued an outbreak of panic buying after they were advised early this week to store essential supplies in case of emergency, ignoring the government’s backflip on its own notice and assurance of supplies.
The advice from the Commerce Ministry issued on Monday night has ignited a wave of stockpiling from families across the country, forcing the government and state media to clarify their initial statement, which encouraged them to stock up “on a certain amount of necessities to meet the needs of daily life and emergencies”.
As China saw a resurgence of Covid-19 outbreaks, and extreme weather disrupted perishable food supplies, the unusual message has stirred public concerns and various speculations, including viewing it as a warning for a potential war with Taiwan.
Pictures and videos on social media have shown people rushing to local stores to stock up on staple food such as rice, flour and noodles, cooking oil and salt, as well as vitamins and flashlights.
The ongoing panic buying forced the Commerce Ministry to clarify its message the next day, urging residents not to “overinterpret” the initial notice, which it said was intended to help stabilise supplies and prices of food throughout the winter, which has just started.
“Judging from the current situation, the supply of daily necessities in various places is sufficient and should be fully guaranteed,” said Zhu Xiaoliang, the head of the Commerce Ministry’s department of market operation and consumption promotion, cited by Chinese media.
State media also repeated the government’s lines trying to help to appease concerns while denouncing warlike hypersensation of the notice.
As supermarket shelves were being stripped bare, the move by the state to clarify its message seemed to be lost amid the widespread impact of the original notice, thanks in part to social media such as TikTok.
Many young citizens said they struggled to stop their parents from panic buying.
“What a good way to boost domestic demand! It successfully stimulated consumption,” a social media weibo user commented.
“I don’t believe the country will release a ‘hurry up and prepare’ signal to the private sector through a notice from the Ministry of Commerce at this time,” Hu Xijin, Editor-in-chief of the Global Times a nationalist tabloid, commented on his Chinese social media account.
“We all need to have basic judgment and not be so easily led.”
However, another weibo user commented: “Words like ‘appropriate stockpile’ haven’t been heard for years, and now to hear it suddenly, it is inevitable to trigger people’s imagination.”
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