The demonstrations in Tibet against the restrictions have already lasted almost three months. Industrial profits fall; manufacturing production slows down. Mass tests and lockdowns in different parts of the country, including the capital and Shanghai. Some 28 cities are subject to various forms of lockdown; more than 207 million people affected.
Beijing () – Protests are growing in the country against the draconian “zeroing” policy of Covid-19 imposed by Xi Jinping, who has just been appointed for a third historic term in power during the 20th Congress of the Communist Party. Chinese.
Images of protests in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, continue to circulate online. Hundreds of people took to the streets between yesterday and the day before yesterday to demand the end of a confinement that has lasted almost three months. More than local Tibetans, most of the protesters were Han immigrants (the majority ethnic group in China), who asked to return to their provinces of origin.
Local security sources quoted by Radio Free Asia say the situation is back under control. The protests these days in Tibet are the first since the anti-government demonstrations that broke out in 2008 and were repressed with an iron fist by the authorities.
At the beginning of the summer, the inhabitants of Shanghai protested against a confinement that was supposed to last a few days but lasted for two months. Despite the disastrous handling of the situation, which left part of the citizens without food for days, Xi has now succeeded in imposing local CCP secretary Li Qiang, a former collaborator, as the next prime minister.
Even more sensational was the lone performance of a protester who displayed banners critical of Xi in Beijing on the eve of the 20th Party Congress. It was the most blatant challenge to the regime since the Tiananmen Square Democratic Movement of 1989. The police immediately arrested Peng Lifa, who became a web star with the nicknames “bridge man”, “lone warrior” and “brave man”.
Citizen discontent goes hand in hand with the problems that Xi’s “Covid zero” policy has caused to the national economy. Investors (especially foreign ones) are pessimistic about the possibility that the sanitary restrictions will end in the short term. Official data released yesterday shows that industrial profits fell at a faster pace between January and September. According to a survey by Reuters, manufacturing activity remained stagnant in October.
However, popular protests and falling economic figures do not affect Xi’s policy. Shanghai has today ordered new mass tests for 1.3 million residents of the central district of Yangpu: they will have to remain confined to their homes at least until the test results are known. Since October 26, 900,000 citizens of Wuhan (where the lung disease first appeared) have been locked up for five days. As of today, the urban districts of Xining (Qinghai) are under quarantine, and some areas of Beijing have also been closed.
Nomura has calculated that as of October 24, there were 28 Chinese cities subject to various forms of lockdown. The affected inhabitants exceed 207 million, in provinces with a combined GDP of 25.6 billion yuan (3,544 million euros): almost a quarter of the country’s GDP in 2021.
