How the protests in China threaten the power of Xi and the Communist Party. Unrest swept the country's largest cities, thousands of people took to the streets

Protests have been held in CHINA against the "zero tolerance" policy towards the CORONAVIRUS. Experts interviewed by RBC are convinced that

How massive were the protests in China?

On November 28, another maximum in the number of new infections with coronavirus was recorded in China - a positive result was diagnosed in more than 40 thousand people. This figure has been growing for the fifth day in a row. At the same time, on Sunday, thousands of Chinese took to the streets of major cities to express their disagreement with Beijing's policy of "zero tolerance" for covid-19 , according to which entire cities could be placed under tight lockdown if the situation escalates. So, when in April 2022 in Shanghai the incidence was about 30 thousand new cases per day, a lockdown was introduced in the city of 25 million for two months. Currently in major cities in China, including Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai, there are partial lockdowns (in particular, in the Chinese capital, schools have been transferred to a remote mode of operation), requirements for testing for coronavirus have been strengthened.

The immediate cause of the protests was the death of ten people as a result of a fire on Friday night in the residential sector of the city of Urumqi, about 4 million residents of which are in one of the longest lockdowns in China - they are forbidden to leave their homes for a hundred days. Presumably, the cause of the tragedy could be the fact that the exit from the residential building engulfed in fire was blocked, which is confirmed by videos distributed on social networks. At the same time, local authorities deny the connection of measures to combat coronavirus with the loss of life.

Be that as it may, the next day, street protests against the lockdown began in Urumqi. In circulated videos, hundreds of people can be seen chanting "Freedom!" and “End lockdown!”. By the weekend, protests had spread to other metropolitan areas, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan. CNN reported confirmed protests in 16 cities, while the Associated Press reported at least eight. At the same time, in Shanghai, according to the agency, the police dispersed demonstrators several times with the help of special equipment, and also carried out detentions. About 300 law enforcement officers were involved in the operation. Among the protesters were those who called not only for the relaxation of anti-COVID measures and the abolition of PCR testing, but also for the resignation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. In Beijing, about 200 people took to the streets with blank, white sheets of A4 paper, alluding to censorship in the country. Protest actions were also reported in more than 50 universities. By Monday morning, protective fences had been erected in the cities where the protests took place.

Mass protests against covid measures in China.Photo report Photo gallery 

According to foreign media outlets with their own correspondents in China, these protests have become the largest in the ten-year term of Xi Jinping's rule. At the same time, Chinese state media did not report on the protests, and videos from the demonstrations were blocked in the Chinese segment of the Internet, which made it difficult to verify information. BLOOMBERG called the protests in China the "biggest threat" to the Chinese Communist Party in the 30 years since the Tiananmen Square events in 1989.

Experts agree that the “zero tolerance” policy at the beginning of the pandemic was effective and helped to stop the growth of local outbreaks of the disease and significantly reduce the mortality caused by it, but the extremely strict measures that are still in force in the country have a negative impact on the national economy. Due to the low level of infection, the country's population has not developed herd immunity to coronavirus, while locally produced vaccines used in the country are less effective than foreign drugs, which increases the risk of new outbreaks of the disease if restrictive measures are abandoned.

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Will Beijing change its strategy to combat coronavirus?

DIRECTOR of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University Alexei Maslov, in a conversation with RBC, highlighted several points that distinguish the current protests, which "already have political consequences." “For the first time in many years, Chinese citizens came out with political slogans, including against Xi Jinping. This is an unusual phenomenon, as well as the fact that protests took place almost all over China, although they were localized in two or three provinces. We see social media flare up. The third point is that the authorities sharply reprimanded everyone who is involved in this, and said that it was a violation of party unity. That is, we are talking about the fact that the party organizations overlooked in terms of educating the population, ”Maslov explained.

Anti-COVID-19 protests may lead to adjustments in plans to combat the pandemic, as the authorities will have to take into account the public’s unwillingness to continue to endure the current restrictions, but they will not weaken or destabilize the power of the Chinese Communist Party, Vasily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, is sure. “They do not have a sufficiently broad base and, judging by the information that we have, they do not have a single coordination center and a single program,” he told RBC.

The very fact of protests for China is not something new, Kashin emphasizes. Protests break out in the country every now and then, mainly of an economic nature or related to specific cases of abuse by the authorities or companies, Kashin continued. These actions are not a problem as long as they remain scattered and not coordinated from one center. Most of the current protests are aimed at one thing - the lifting of coronavirus restrictions, which are perceived by Chinese society as absurd. “In some cases, protesters do shout something at Xi Jinping and the Communist Party, but this is more the exception than the rule. Sometimes people may sing the "Internationale" or wave a red flag in protest to emphasize their loyalty to the existing system. That,

He added that the prospect of softening the "zero tolerance" policy was looming following the results of the October CCP Congress. “There were expectations and there were statements indicating the intention of the authorities to gradually ease the restrictions. But then a new wave of morbidity began, which created a dilemma: continue to focus on the medical situation or focus on the political and economic situation. I think that the protests that have taken place are an argument in favor of taking politics into account more. The degree of society’s fatigue has become clear,” says Kashin.

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According to his forecast, Beijing will begin to gradually lift coronavirus restrictions, but this will not happen in the near future, and the process will be very gradual for reasons both medical and political. “Removing restrictions too abruptly can be seen as a sign of weakness. I think a phased process will begin, which will most likely stretch over several months and lead to a serious easing of restrictions by the next session of the National People's Congress in March next year, ”the expert concluded.