- Xi Jinping’s Covid dilemma
- Cat-and-mouse game on the Internet
- EU criticizes sentence against Cardinal Zen
- Record sales for carmakers
- Evergrande tries to get out of debt
- iPhone shortage at Apple
- Taikonaut exchange at Tiangong
- Opinion: Standing up to the iron fist of the party
The protests against the government and its strict Covid policy continued on Monday. More than that, they have now spread to smaller cities as well. And the Xi Jinping government? A few months ago, he allowed himself to be celebrated for his strict zero-Covid policy. Now, however, it seems as if Xi and his men are in a state of shock. The government’s silence and the state media’s ignorance of the unrest make the shouts of the protesters on the streets all the louder.
Apart from a massive police presence and strict censorship, the ruling powers in Beijing seem to have little idea of what to do at the moment. In his analysis, Finn Mayer-Kuckuk explains the reasons and the deep dilemma Xi Jinping has maneuvered himself into: A simple carry-on is not possible, but neither is rapid relaxation of the Covid measures. A few weeks after the 20th CP Party Congress and his inauguration as ruler for life, Xi Jinping faces the biggest political crisis since he took office in 2013.
Fabian Peltsch takes his text to the protesters on the street. They tell him how they try to circumvent censorship. The state’s reaction is not limited to blind deletion. Rather, bots are deliberately activated to flood the digital channels and thus make targeted communication and information impossible. And, of course, the myth of foreign influence is not missing this time either.
Michael Radunski
Feature
New protests despite massive police presence
Protests continued across China on Monday. In addition to criticism of the Covid policy, other concerns rose to the fore, including a general call for freedom and an end to censorship. The police maintained a massive presence on the streets. For the time being, police are seeking a middle ground between discouraging further gatherings and generally calming the situation. In addition, the first changes to Covid policy are being made to calm protesters.
The magnitude of the protests in recent days disproved the narrative that the party was in complete control of the country. Even sophisticated propaganda, digital surveillance and a sprawling security apparatus have failed to prevent the unrest. The population took note of the global differences in the way the pandemic is being handled and is now rebelling against the strict measures taken by their government. Ruler Xi Jinping faces the biggest political crisis since taking office in 2013 – a crisis largely caused by his own administrative ideas.
On Monday, the police deployed hundreds of units at the hotspots of last weekend’s protests. Especially in Beijing and Shanghai, the high presence of security forces was very noticeable. Nevertheless, citizens again shouted slogans like: “Freedom not PCR tests,” “We want to travel!” or “We want to go to work!” In some cases, they shouted their demands directly in the faces of the officers.
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