The good news for the Chinese people is that the recent protests were dispersed with little bloodshed, and the end of pandemic restrictions is finally in sight. The bad news is that the public’s rejection of the government’s COVID rules raises the political stakes of the next controversial policy.
CHICAGO – China’s leaders always knew that they would have to abandon their zero-COVID policy eventually, and that the longer they waited, the more painful the transition would be. Yet they seemed mired in the policy, unable to leave it behind and move on. Then, an apartment-building blaze in locked-down Xinjiang killed ten people whose escape was thwarted by locked doors and blocked entrances. This sparked China’s largest anti-government protests since the Tiananmen movement of 1989 and became the catalyst for the authorities’ decision finally to begin easing restrictions.
CHICAGO – China’s leaders always knew that they would have to abandon their zero-COVID policy eventually, and that the longer they waited, the more painful the transition would be. Yet they seemed mired in the policy, unable to leave it behind and move on. Then, an apartment-building blaze in locked-down Xinjiang killed ten people whose escape was thwarted by locked doors and blocked entrances. This sparked China’s largest anti-government protests since the Tiananmen movement of 1989 and became the catalyst for the authorities’ decision finally to begin easing restrictions.