Images of pets beaten to death, and stories of the elderly being denied basic medical care are clouding the Chinese internet, even as netizens debate Beijing’s “dynamic zero-Covid” policy.
There is also an electoral buzz in Hong Kong as the current Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, has decided that she won’t seek a second term. Meanwhile, Taiwan is gearing up to welcome US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Chinese Vignettes brings you all the stories making news in China.
China over the week
Rising COVID-19 Cases
China’s continuous and steady commitment to its zero-Covid policy is reaping no benefits, rather it is hurting its economy. On Sunday, Shanghai reported 24,944 COVID-19 cases, bringing the total in the current wave to more than 179,000.
More than 26 million people have been under lockdown in China’s financial hub Shanghai, as what began as an eight-day lockdown to be observed in two phases, has been extended indefinitely. The citizens are overwhelmed. Under the latest lockdown, Shanghai residents are not permitted to leave their homes for any reason other than to be tested for COVID-19, and are dependent on the officials for food and basic necessities.
While the Chinese authorities are trying their best to limit the blow of the Shanghai lockdown by giving tax rebate and other incentives and exemptions, the residents are feeling the strain. Moreover, the shutdown has also jolted the global financial markets who have already been on edge due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
This stringent zero-Covid policy is also experiencing pushback from residents who are running out of food. The city officials who are responsible for providing the residents with the basic necessities have also admitted that they are facing “difficulties.”
Public anger is also triggered by other drastic measures such as the separation of children from their parents if they test positive for the virus. The authorities later responded by permitting the parents to accompany their wards. However, according to a Reuters report, there are complaints of children separated from their guardians who tested negative.
Additionally, mandatory quarantining in a government facility even for patients whose condition is mild or asymptomatic have caused angst, especially as the quarantine facilities are crowded and have sub-par conditions.
Chinese President Xi’s zero-Covid policy has also broken down those who once supported it, with some saying that Beijing’s cure is worse than the disease itself.
“In this country, it’s not the virus that scares us, but the chaotic anti-Covid measures that have caused risks to the well-being of the elderly, the children and companion animals. I now realize we can only rely on ourselves — not the government — to protect our own families,” said Bloomberg quoting a resident.
While another said that she no longer knows the city, the only thing which comes to her mind is to protect her dogs. This comes as Chinese social media is full of images and videos of authorities beating dogs to death.
Another video of an older man went viral on social media, who was heard saying “Really shame on you. Treat us like animals. In other countries, you can’t even treat a cat or a dog like this. There is no humanity left.” The video was later deleted.
On Monday, the centre sent thousands of medics from across the country including the military to carry out the testing and help the embattled local health workers in Shanghai.
The centre fears that the pushback by residents in China could inspire other cities currently under lockdown to fight these measures.
“There is the risk of a slow-burn discontent if lockdown measures spread across China. And if its virus strategy goes out of control and heavily affects its economy, this will not look good as Xi attempts a third term. At that point, Xi will have no choice but to ramp up his nationalism agenda,” reported Bloomberg quoting Chen Shih-Min, an associate political science professor at National Taiwan University.
Electoral buzz in Hong Kong
While the city of nearly 8 million is still batting Covid, it is also gearing up for elections this May. Earlier this week, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam announced that she will not be seeking a second term. Her current term, which ends on June 30, will conclude her 42-year career in government service.
There was also a buzz on social media after the announcement. Some said it was ‘great news”, others said “let’s celebrate!”. While some also pointed out that “Anyone is better than Carrie Lam because she brings bad luck.”
The city’s current No. 2 John Lee Ka-chiu resigned from his post of chief secretary following Lam’s announcement, as he emerged as the ‘only’ contender for the post, as Beijing gave their ‘approval’. On Saturday, he announced his bid to run for the top job.
64-year-old John Lee began his career as a police officer, later he turned to politics, and has served as Secretary for Security, Under Secretary for Security, Deputy Commissioner of Police and Chief Secretary for Administration in the Hong Kong government.
‘He has secured enough nominations to run as the only hopeful in next month’s leadership race with Beijing’s blessing,’ said the South China Morning Post. And ‘he promised a ‘new chapter of “pragmatic” and “result-oriented” leadership’ for Hong Kong.’ And Lee hopes to start “a new chapter for Hong Kong together.”
According to reports, for his leadership campaign, Lee will be aided by an “all-encompassing” team. His 16-member campaign team is led by pro-Beijing heavyweight Tam Yiu-chung. The team consists of people from diverse backgrounds such as policy think tanks, finance, social welfare, education and law, as he tries to win public support.
“We hope to strive for community support for Lee and to raise people’s understanding of his policies by reaching out to the community,” said Tam speaking to the South China Morning Post. “But due to the constraints of the social-distancing rules, we’ll have to study how we can achieve that.”
Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan – a red line?
US house speaker Nancy Pelosi was reportedly due to visit Taiwan as part of her tour to Asia, a first by someone in more than two decades. However, China was not happy not it.
“If the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives knowingly commits a sneaky visit to Taiwan, it will be a malicious provocation to China’s sovereignty, gross interference in its internal affairs and an extremely dangerous political signal to the outside world,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Even the Chinese embassy in the United States said, “In the past few days, Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. have lodged stern representations with the U.S. Congress and government on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s reported visit to Taiwan, and stated China’s solemn position, urging the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations in the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques, and to cancel Speaker Pelosi’s plan to visit Taiwan.”
However, after testing positive for Covid-19 she had to postpone it, said her deputy communications director in a tweet on Thursday, leaving many to wonder about when her trip is rescheduled.
On this, while wishing a quick recovery for Pelosi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that she should “not postpone a visit, but cancel it immediately”.
On Friday, Chinese state media trolled Pelosi, state broadcaster CCTV’s social media account started the hashtag “Cure your covid sickness first” that trended China’s Twitter equivalent Weibo.
Taiwan, on the other hand, not only wished her a ‘speedy recovery’ but also thanked the speaker for being a ‘good friend to Taiwan’. Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan, “welcomed the show of U.S. support given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised concern that China may follow through on its oft-repeated threat to take control of the democratic island by force,” reported Bloomberg.
China in world reportage
Arms race with US
This week, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States – or the AUKUS, agreed to cooperate on hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare capabilities.
“We … committed today to commence new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand information sharing and to deepen cooperation on defence innovation,” said the leaders of the 3 countries – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Adding that they were delighted with the progress of the ‘programme for the conventionally armed submarines for Australia, and the allies would co-operate in other areas too,’ reported Aljazeera.
“These initiatives will add to our existing efforts to deepen cooperation on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities… As our work progresses on these and other critical defence and security capabilities, we will seek opportunities to engage allies and close partners,” they said
Meanwhile, according to reports, ‘the first U.S. hypersonic weapon has been a setback to more than a year under a new timeline which was to be delivered by Sept. 30. The lawmakers protested the delay, as Pentagon is lagging behind in a new technology that ‘Russia has already used in Ukraine and China has demonstrated in a space launch,’ reported Bloomberg.
Last month, while Russia debuted the missile in its attack on Ukraine, China hit a demonstration target on Earth with a weapon in orbit in July.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Beijing has “accelerated” its nuclear weapons programme due to threats posed by the US. And according to another report, China has also delivered HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems to Russian ally Serbia. Early Saturday, six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed in Belgrade to deliver the ‘sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system.’
UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from Human Rights Council
On Thursday, China voted against suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council. The resolution came as, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Russia should be removed from the council, following the reports of mass killings in Bucha, where the Ukrainian officials have accused the Russian troops of committing war crimes.
“Russia’s participation on the Human Rights Council is a farce… And it is wrong, which is why we believe it is time the UN General Assembly vote to remove them,” she said.
Voting against the resolution, China Ambassador Zhang Jun, at the UN General Assembly said, “China’s basic position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and unequivocal. We always believe that all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected, and that international disputes should be resolved peacefully in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.”
“Any action by the UN and the relevant parties should give priority to regional peace and stability and the universal security of all parties, and should play a positive role for de-escalation and diplomatic solutions. Regrettably, the draft resolution submitted to this emergency special session for vote has not undergone full consultations within the whole membership. Nor does it take full consideration the history and complexity of the current crisis. It does not highlight the importance of the principle of indivisible security, or the urgency of promoting political settlement and stepping up diplomatic efforts. These are not in line with China’s consistent positions. Therefore, we had no choice but to abstain in the voting,” he added.
(The author is an Assistant Researcher at WION TV)
