(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) “Welt” published an article stating that there are nearly 100,000 group demonstrations in China every year, but last weekend’s protest rally with such obvious political meaning has never been seen since 1989. And in China, where the control is so strict, there are large-scale demonstrations and rallies, which is very surprising in itself. The article, titled “Fleeting Revolt,” reads:
“Since Xi Jinping came to power, China’s supervision, control and censorship system has been greatly strengthened. However, the protests this time still caused damage to the image of Xi Jinping himself and the Communist Party. Wu Muluan, a professor at the National University of Singapore, told the “Le Monde” that in order to make up for Image loss, the Communist Party will attribute the protests to ‘foreign forces’, ‘it is a consistent strategy of the Communist Party to shift the responsibility to the United States or foreign countries.’
At the same time, local officials have also been criticized for failing to fully implement the policy guidelines of the Party Central Committee. Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission, said: ‘Some local governments have adopted a one-size-fits-all approach, ignoring the needs of the public society. ‘Despite the symbolism of last weekend’s protest rally, Ng is skeptical that the demonstrations will turn into a pro-democracy movement. He said: ‘The government obviously underestimated the scale of the protests, and in addition, the protest rallies took place on the weekend. Now that the authorities have dispatched a large number of police forces to arrest people, it has become very dangerous to participate in protest rallies. ‘At the recent party congress, Xi Jinping repeatedly emphasized that maintaining national security is the main point of the government’s governance. Anyone who dares to raise objections will be severely punished. Young people are often the backbone of democratic movements, and this has also been confirmed in Iran. And in China, where the youth unemployment rate is as high as nearly 20%, they do have every reason to stand up and express their grievances, and the government is well aware of that.
In response to the protest rallies, some universities announced early leave for students. Some students even got free bus tickets or plane tickets, ZDF reported. Students from 79 universities are said to have participated in the protest rally. University classes have been held online for the past three years, and despite that, students have been barred from leaving campus for weeks on end. Now the government has suddenly sent the students home, apparently to prevent new protests. “
The “Le Monde” article pointed out that although the weekend’s protests reflected the public’s strong dissatisfaction with the government’s epidemic prevention policy, there is currently no sign that the authorities will abandon the “zero-clearing strategy.”
“The zero-clearing strategy is closely related to Xi Jinping himself, and he has always regarded this epidemic prevention strategy as his commendable achievements. He has repeatedly emphasized that compared with China, many people in the United States and other countries have been killed by the new crown. But Even so, Xi Jinping seems to have realized that strict anti-epidemic policies are not a long-term solution. The Chinese Health Commission announced earlier this week that it will promote booster vaccinations for the elderly. Those who refuse vaccination must provide corresponding reasons .So far, China has refused to approve the import of mRNA vaccines, instead using domestically produced vaccines with questionable effectiveness.”
“Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” comment: Xi Jinping has always regarded the implementation of the zero-clearing strategy as his important political achievement.
The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” commented that in a country with a population of 1.4 billion, thousands of people took to the streets to hold protest rallies, which cannot be called a large-scale popular resistance movement, but the protest itself is a warning signal to Xi Jinping .
“On the other hand, the spearhead of this protest is not only aimed at local lockdown measures, some demonstrators have also clearly expressed their opposition to the CCP and its General Secretary Xi Jinping. Under the rule of this authoritarian regime, it is no longer the workers and peasants. , but a growing middle class, so the protest rally itself is a very dangerous warning signal.
Until then, the continued economic downturn was considered the greatest, foreseeable threat to the legitimacy of Communist Party rule. Then, the potential threat posed by endless lockdown measures should not be underestimated. Because of this, it can be concluded that Beijing will take tough measures against those who turn the protests into political appeals. Xi Jinping had hoped to use the new crown virus to prove that China’s social system is superior to that of the West. However, what he did had exactly the opposite effect. “
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