Fri, Dec 02, 2022 page1

• China eases some virus curbs, searches pedestrians

  ‘XINJIANG MODEL’: Social media users expressed fears over the government’s measures to suppress protests, as reports emerged that police searched people’s phones

  • AP, BEIJING
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  Some Chinese cities yesterday eased some measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 as police patrolled the streets to head off protests while the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prepared for the high-profile funeral of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民).

  Guangzhou in the south, Shijiazhuang in the north, Chengdu in the southwest and other major cities announced they were easing testing requirements and controls on movement. In some areas, markets and bus service reopened.

  The announcements did not mention protests in Shanghai, Beijing and at least six other cities last weekend against the human cost of COVID-19 restrictions that confine millions of people to their homes.

  

  Workers in protective gear ride a tricycle outside a neighborhood placed under lockdown in Beijing yesterday.

  Photo: Bloomberg

  However, the timing and publicity suggested that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government is trying to mollify public anger after some protesters made the politically explosive demand that Xi resign.

  With a heavy police presence, there was no indication of protests. Notes on social media complained that people were being stopped at random for police to check smartphones, possibly looking for prohibited apps such as Twitter, in what they said was a contravention of the Chinese constitution.

  “I am especially afraid of becoming the ‘Xinjiang model’ and being searched on the excuse of walking around,” said a posting signed Qi Xiaojin on Sina Weibo, referring to the northwestern region where Uighur and other Muslim minorities are under intense surveillance.

  

  People hold placards at a protest against the Chinese government’s continued ‘zero COVID-19’ policy in Berkeley, California, on Monday.

  Photo: AFP

  Protesters have used Twitter and other foreign social media platforms to publicize protests while the CCP deletes videos and pictures from services within China.

  Health authorities yesterday reported 36,061 new COVID-19 cases, including 31,911 without symptoms.

  Meanwhile, Beijing was preparing for the funeral of Jiang, who was the CCP’s general-secretary until 2002 and president until the following year. The CCP announced he died on Wednesday in Shanghai of leukemia and multiple organ failure.

  No foreign dignitaries are to be invited in line with Chinese tradition, the CCP announced.

  It has yet to set a date for the funeral or announce how it might be affected by COVID-19 controls.

  Xi’s government has promised to reduce the disruption of its “zero COVID-19” strategy by shortening quarantines and making other changes.

  However, it says it would stick to restrictions that have repeatedly shut down schools and businesses, and suspended access to neighborhoods.

  The protests began on Friday, after at least 10 people were killed in a fire in an apartment building in Urumqi, Xinjiang.

  That prompted questions about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other controls. Authorities denied that, but the deaths became a focus for public frustration.

  The government says it is making restrictions more targeted and flexible, but a spike in infections since October has prompted local officials, who are threatened with the loss of their jobs if an outbreak occurs, to impose controls that some residents say are excessive and destructive.
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