Guys, I had an interesting chat with a mate who has recently returned from a 4 year stint in China. He is one of those guys who gets to know people and find things out. In one of his discussions with someone who knows stuff (got to love those vague descriptions!) he found out that all the supply chain issues are absolutely nothing to do with Covid and everything to do with not having enough power for factories to make stuff. This lack of power is completely to do with the banning of Aussie coal to China, along with the other "taxes" laid on various imports. Apparently come end of month leaders of companies schmooze the government electricity people to try and up their electricity allowance so they can have their factories working closer to capacity. Anyway, thought it was an interesting tidbit and perhaps it means supply chain could actually improve relatively quickly if they can improve electricity generation.

By the way, this friend lived in Qingdao and after the initial short lock down they were never locked down again. The tracking of Covid is incredibly good in China as you could imagine and they were very specific with their lockdowns. One of the reasons for keeping the boarders closed is not so much Covid, but the ability to indoctrinate the population again, especially leading up to the "re-election" of the leader. Now the "election" has passed maybe they will slowly open up..........