The principal dilemma facing China’s government concerns politics rather than public health: lose ideological face or suffer the adverse (economic) consequences of (self-imposed) isolation. At present, China seems to view the former as a bigger loss than the latter. Perhaps this is what playing the geopolitical long game looks like.

https://thediplomat.com/2022/01/china-will-struggle-to-escape-the-fallout-of-zero-covid/

“China Will Struggle to Escape the Fallout of Zero-COVID.” The Diplomat, 31 January 2022, with Donald Low.