China’s Covid-19 protests are not at 1989 levels, yet
Chinese citizens in several cities and students in dozens of campuses marched on heavily-surveilled streets and gathered in rigidly-administered universities last weekend, protesting against China’s stringent Covid-19-control policies. In an unprecedented show of defiance, holding blank white sheets of paper, protest banners and singing the national anthem, women and men in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai voiced their opposition to the “zero-covid” policy; slogans against the ruling and authoritarian Communist Party of China (CPC) and President Xi Jinping were raised.
For Xi, the protests, while he was possibly completing his eight-day quarantine after returning to Beijing from a diplomatic blitz at summits and visits in southeast Asia, would have come as a rude shock. The demonstrations were the biggest show of opposition against the CPC in recent years and came within weeks after Xi started an unprecedented third term as China’s leader, most likely having cemented his place as ruler for life.
Often described as draconian, the zero-covid policy involves tracing and isolating every single case in a
Covid-19 outbreak through strict lockdowns and mass testing to cut off community transmission chains. The policy confines millions of citizens to their homes, disrupting their lives — a repeat occurrence all over China as the pandemic is about to enter its fourth year.
The policy has kept infections and deaths low, but has isolated the country and dampened the economy as most of the world moves towards an endemic existence with the virus. The frustration over Covid-19 restrictions often implemented in a coercive and unsympathetic manner, was anyway swelling up for months: Academics, business owners and journalists would privately grumble, saying how they yearn for a softer and flexible government approach.
Two unconnected events breached the trusted levee dividing a complaint in private and the rare public display of anger in China. The death of 10 people including at least one child in a fire at a sealed high-rise in Xinjiang’s Urumqi — parts of the city were locked down for nearly 100 days — last week shook the country. Anger and heartbreak over the deaths swept Chinese social media like wildfire before censors stepped in and did what they do best — blocked the information.
If the Urumqi fire was a trigger, the other event, happening many miles away in gilded Qatar, was the ammo. Watching thousands of mask-less spectators at football matches during the live telecast of fixtures at the ongoing World Cup, deepened the sense of isolation
THE FRUSTRATION OVER COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS, OFTEN IMPLEMENTED IN A COERCIVE MANNER, WAS SWELLING UP. ACADEMICS, BUSINESS OWNERS AND JOURNALISTS WOULD GRUMBLE IN PRIVATE ON HOW THEY YEARN FOR A SOFTER APPROACH
among many Chinese.
“Are we on a different planet?” was an online question shared by many on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo before it was duly censored.
After a weekend of raucous but mostly peaceful protests, the demonstrations subsided by the beginning of the week as the Chinese government quietly moved in to neutralise demonstrators through heavy police deployment at key sites and widening online censorship. It’s possible that the Chinese security apparatus, through the use of its extensive surveillance camera networks, will trace key protesters and punish them in the weeks ahead. To call the protests a “vote of no confidence” against the CPC under Xi — an increasingly repressive era, many say — or a repeat of the 1989 Tiananmen protests is an exaggeration. Yet.
The leadership, however, could do well to analyse the reasons behind the outpouring of citizens’ anger, at a level not seen in China in recent years. There is little doubt that citizens are confused and local officials are struggling to implement the recent, if reluctant, easing of zerocovid rules, brought in despite a massive surge in Covid cases in the ongoing countrywide outbreak.
While the central government keeps talking about not implementing “one size fits all” rules, the message that’s going down to the CPC local communities and cadres is to control the Omicron-driven outbreak at any cost, even if that comes at the cost of citizens’ comfort.
Chinese officials, however, have begun to acknowledge that the Omicron variant, though contagious, caused fewer deaths and less severe sickness than previous variants. This means that Covid-19 control policies should be adjusted accordingly, say, by not sealing an entire high-rise for five to seven days if there is one positive case on one floor.
To be fair, China has eased some zero-covid rules in the past few months.
The quarantine time for incoming international passengers, for example, has been reduced from 14 (centralised/hotel quarantine) plus seven days (home observation) to seven plus three days, and now, to five plus three days; secondary contacts no longer need to be reported, and, in many instances, lockdowns are now imposed in a targeted manner and for fewer days. Beijing has also directed hospitals to avoid closing critical departments, such as emergency and maternity departments.
But much more needs to be done.
For one, China should focus on vaccinating its vast elderly population, key to the complete opening up of the country. Official data shows that by the end of 2021, China had 267 million people aged 60 and above, and over 191 million aged 65 and above — a critical age group where vaccination rates remain low. Compared to the national vaccination average, the share of those aged 60 and older who have received two vaccine doses was 86.4% as of November 11 and only 68.2% had received boosters, as per Reuters. If sustained opening of cities and the economy is the goal, the CPC will have to push these rates up, and fast.