Chinese Covid-19 protests: A warning for Xi?

"We don't want a leader; we want votes," read a banner in Beijing as the 20th annual congress of the Chinese Communist Party was about to begin. It may seem weird to see a pro-democracy banner taking a potshot at Xi Jinping in China. Apart from such banners, people were seen holding blank paper sheets as a symbol of protest against the CCP, and students in prominent Chinese universities were also staging protests. The seriousness of these protests can be gauged by the fact that Lijian Xiao, the Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson stood in absolute silence when questioned about the protests. These protests also come at a time when Xi talks of the 21st Century being Asia's century, with China at the helm and creating a world order of its own.

How it all began?

The protests look like the "butterfly effect" in action. According to officials, a fire broke out in an apartment on 24th November in Urumqi, where ten people died. The locals say the rescue efforts were delayed because of the Zero Covid policy. As a result, people took to the streets to mourn the deaths and protest against this dictatorial Covid policy which eventually turned political.

What is the Zero-Covid policy?

The Chinese government terms it a dynamic zero covid policy under which they lock everything down even if one positive case is detected. The lockdown continues until they ensure no new cases are detected, which has continued for three months or more, depending on the local covid situation, in different parts of the country. Other than this, people must get themselves tested regularly in places not under lockdown. The government has made it compulsory to install covid passport app, which keeps an eye on whom you come in contact with and where you go. This app gives real-time updates to the government. Based on this data, officials can pick you up and put you in a "covid camp" if you happen to come in contact with someone who tested positive or if you visited a particular area before cases got detected there. Or if it happens to be a public place, authorities might impose a curfew and lock you inside it.

Xi Jinping and the protests

Xi, in his third term, has risen to such a stature that is second only to Mao Zedong. With his hard nationalism, aggressive foreign policy, and leveraging China's economic might, Xi seized the premiership for as long as he desires. As it is with all dictatorial leaders, they want to have a facade of democracy, and the one thing they fear is public protests as they know one wrong move, and they are out of power forever. These protests distorted the optics for Xi Jinping. As a result, he came down heavily on the protesters, eventually leading to the protests becoming even more widespread, mounting more trouble for Xi. It was like holding sand in your hand. The more tightly you hold it, the faster it slips out.

The lockdowns have come with their own economic costs, and the world is rethinking its dependency on China, with China + 1 being the first step, and this will surely add to China's economic woes. And this might lead to further resentment amongst the people, and it might be the final straw that will blow things out of proportion.

It seems like Xi Jinping is caught in this conundrum of his idea of nationalism and whether to adopt strategies (such as using effective vaccines and a striking balance between economic activity and imposing lockdowns) that have proven to work in tackling Covid-19. The latter is not viable as it is bad optics for a country which soon hopes to overtake America as the no. 1 superpower; hence using the traditional communist tools available at his disposal under the facade of Dynamic zero covid policy seemed the only choice.

The protests turning political might mean very little on the ground in China. Still, it does bring to light that in this globalized and hyper-connected world, you no longer can take everything for granted, and even a dictatorial leader will ultimately be accountable to the people. And if the leader brushes it under the carpet, the spring is not far away for him.

Image credits: Thomas Peter/Reuters