Long lines are seen back at a train station in Jinan, East China's Shandong Province, on December 7, 2022, as China further optimized COVID response and relaxed controls. Photo: IC

China has been dealing with Omicron throughout the year, and meanwhile we are also exploring: can we continue to implement the policy of protecting people's lives and health which had been successfully conducted for more than two years? The situation in December demonstrated that we were justifiably hesitant about whether to ease COVID-19 policy. After a tsunami-level infection wave took place from the introduction of the 20 prevention and control measures for further optimizing its COVID-19 response in November 11 to the further policy shift in December, many people feel it as a "sharp turn." But the overall situation shows what China is attempting to walk a steady path. Its actual performance at each point may be different, but the resoluteness of the path itself is consistent. The reason why China doing so is out of the consideration that people want to live a stable life, which needs the support of the country's prudent and steady path.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games were also held in a very steady way. The Games created a closed-loop system unprecedented in global effort to deal with the epidemic, and the whole process did not result in any infections in Beijing. This country is performing as if it always holds a strategic reserve force in its hands, trying to buffer the damage triggered by a range of sudden crises, and it has worked very hard in this regard.

The crisis and consequence caused by COVID-19 is real. It has swept the world over the past three years, and many countries have come out through almost "surrendering to the virus." China has been fighting the epidemic for three years, and it will eventually break the lock of the virus. From November to December, the country made up its mind to take this step. It turned out to be more challenging and painful than many had expected. However, we have escaped the worst period of the virus after all. China carried out a strategic breakthrough when it was relatively weakened.

We used to believe that it would be sufficient to fight COVID-19 with the correct organization and precise strategy formulated by the government, but the year 2022 finally proved that it must go through the stage of being a "people's war." Each of us is a member of this war, and everyone is hero. We have forged different memories, but by virtue of everyone's bravery and cooperation, this country and the nation have generally taken the path with the lowest cost on human life.

The year 2022 has brought many difficult problems to the whole world. For China, it is dealing with the remnants of COVID-19. Maybe when realizing this background clearly, we will have a better understanding of what we have done this year, and because of this year's efforts, appreciate what kind of 2023 we are ushering in, which is likely to be clearer.

The author is a Global Times commentator. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn