[robonerd]

My guess is there's too much money on the table for those in the western establishment (corporate media and government) to call a spade a spade. If official criticism of China becomes too strong then the public might start asking for the sort of economic sanctions that would hurt western business interests as well. Basically, a manifestation of that old theory about international trade preempting wars.

[qsi]

There have definitely been signs of serious disquiet amongst the western business community; earlier this month the European Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai sent an open letter saying in the usual diplomatese "this can't go on, it's a serious problem." [1] The Japanese did something similar. [2]

This is not out of humanitarian interest. It's starting to affect business very significantly.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/china/european-business-chambe...

[2] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/16/business/japan-...

[jollybean]

No, the simpler answer is that lockdowns, especially in response to a pandemic, are possibly authoritarian but it's not a humanitarian crisis.