China protests highlight Xi's COVID policy dilemma - to walk it back or not

29/11/2022 19:18

        The rare street protests that erupted in cities across China over the weekend were a referendum against President Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy and the strongest public defiance during his political career, China analysts said.
        
        Not since the protests of Tiananmen Square in 1989 have so many Chinese risked arrest and other repercussions to take to the streets over a single issue.
        
        "During Xi Jinping’s 10 years in power, these are the most public and most widespread displays of anger by the citizenry against government policy," said Bates Gill, a China expert with Asia Society.
        
        Public dissatisfaction with Xi's zero-COVID policy, expressed on social media or offline in the form of putting up posters in universities or by protesting, is Xi's biggest domestic challenge since the 2019 protests in Hong Kong against an extradition bill.