Cai Qi is no expert, he is the Party Secretary of Beijing, so his position would be tantamount to that of the CE of HK.
To be fair, keep calm and carry on is probably the right attitude to adopt regardless of the truth.
I’m willing to believe that this is just the formulaic 5-year planning speak the robots adopt. Hence my “oops”, since that can mean both the believers in “reopening”, as well as the robo-speak, whether unintended or unintentionally revealing…but yes, policymaker not “expert”.
Winnie himself can scream 5 MORE YEARS in English on tv and there would still be people who think the border will open in July.
But honestly, 5 more years of this shit? Jesus Christ, even I'm surprised.