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A man is arrested while people gathering on a street in Shanghai on November 27, 2022, where protests against China's zero-Covid policy took place the night before following a deadly fire in Urumqi. HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Imagesa Getty Images

Opinion China's zero-covid policy tightens its perfect dictatorship

Human rights lawyer and professor Teng Biao looks at the recent protests in China and asks if it’s the beginning of a new wave of resistance.

LAST UPDATE | 5 Dec 2022

A REVOLUTION WAS, perhaps still is, happening in a place where demonstrations are highly unlikely: China.

Many people were holding blank pieces of white paper in their hands, protesting against the insane zero-Covid policy, and in Shanghai, chanting for Xi Jinping to step down.

This display has not been seen in China since 1989, when millions of students, workers and civilians participated in the democratic movement tragically crushed by the Tiananmen Massacre.

south-korea-china-protest Demonstrators stage a rally denouncing the Chinese governnent's zero covid policy. Ahn Young-joon Ahn Young-joon

These protests have shocked most people in China and the outside world. At least 400 million people in hundreds of cities, are under Covid lockdown. There are also at least half a billion surveillance cameras installed and the social credit system is expanding rapidly, with powerful phone trackers connecting one’s digital footprint, real-life identity and physical whereabouts. Facial, voiceprint and gait recognition together with government-controlled big data make privacy hardly possible now in China.

Virtual reality (VR) was used to test party members’ level of loyalty to the CCP. The Chinese government’s goal is to maximise its capacity to monitor everyone’s every movement in every corner at every moment. I once coined the term “high-tech totalitarianism” to describe this surreal dystopia.

Covid control

Furthermore, Covid-19 has become a perfect excuse for the Chinese Communist Party to strengthen its control of Chinese society. Every citizen is required to show a green Health Code (and also Venue Code and Itinerary Code) to leave home.

In June, before two human rights lawyers departed to meet their client, a citizen journalist sentenced to four years for her reports of the outbreak of Covid-19, their health code suddenly turned red, which was considered a manipulation by the authorities to restrict their travel. This has happened to thousands of petitioners in Henan Province, as well.

The purpose of the zero-Covid policy is to tighten China’s perfect dictatorship, “controlocracy” as the Norwegian sociologist Stein Ringen put it than to fight the coronavirus.

Ridiculously enough, the collateral damage has been much greater than the pandemic. Whistleblowers and activists have been arrested and silenced, doors and windows were sealed, patients in urgent medical need have been denied by hospitals, people locked in their own homes have been left with a lack of food (some even starved to death), students were not allowed to attend exams and farmers were forced not to plant or harvest. The “white guards” have arbitrarily humiliated, detained and assaulted civilians. Uyghurs have also died as a result of poisoning from disinfectants sprayed in their homes – the list goes on.

china-beijing-xi-jinping-laos-thongloun-talks-cn BEIJING, Nov. 30, 2022 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, holds talks with Thongloun Sisoulith, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao president, at the Great Hall of the People. Xinhua News Agency / PA Images Xinhua News Agency / PA Images / PA Images

The fire that killed dozens of Uyghurs in Urumchi sparked this wave of protests. Still, people’s frustration and anger have accumulated for three years since the coronavirus outbreak and ten years since Xi Jinping came to power. What infuriated people is not only the endless lockdown but also the arbitrariness, absurdity, atrocities and corruption in the name of dealing with Covid.

‘Collective suffering’

Almost everyone in China has suffered under the zero-Covid policy, and this collective suffering is the widespread and powerful psychological basis of the A4 Revolution. A protester wrote, “Everything the Communists fear has been written on the blank papers. People in China can easily understand what a sheet of A4 paper means – it represents hundreds of millions of people’s anger, sorrow, empathy, humiliation, and despair.”

Yet hope rises from the seemingly hopeless situation. When the home becomes one’s prison, there may be little difference between going to jail and going home. More and more people have overcome their fear and stood up to Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy and brutal dictatorship. As a popular post on social media said, “I was not on Guizhou’s Quarantine bus, I was not in the locked building burned in Urumchi, but next victim may be me myself.”

More and more overseas Chinese have overcome their fear, too. One and a half months ago, the lone warrior Peng Lifa (aka Peng Zaizhou) became “the new Tankman” when he hung up Anti-Xi banners in Beijing. On more than 350 campuses worldwide, anonymous Chinese students copied his manifestos. But after this wave of protests, countless Chinese students participated in the vigils mourning the victims, supporting the protestors in China, and chanting anti-CCP slogans.

Tiananmen Massacre 1989 photo of a Chinese man as he stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Cangan Boulevard in Tiananmen Square. The new A4 Revolution is inspired by this. AP / PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES AP / PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES / PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES

One Princeton University student said, “As a Chinese citizen, we all know very well that our lives, our well-being, those we care about, and our entire career can be destroyed in a minute by the regime. But I feel like if I missed this chance to speak, I would regret it for the rest of my life.” It’s extremely rare for overseas students and broader Chinese people to attend anti-CCP events, not to mention organise them publicly.

A modern movement

After the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, in an atmosphere of fear and despair, the majority of Chinese people leaned towards admiring and supporting those with power and money. Increasingly indifferent to universal values and morality, people forgot, marginalised and mocked freedom fighters and prisoners of conscience. Then, Xi increasingly incited nationalist sentiments and aggressiveness on the international stage.

But the sparks of hope have always been shining in the darkness: when the Tank Man stood in front of the tanks in 1989, when Liu Xiaobo initiated the Charter 08, when Xu Zhiyong demanded Xi’s resignation, when Hongkongers occupied the Legislative Council and when Uyghur camp survivors testified in media. And most recently, when Peng Lifa walked onto the Sitong bridge and now when so many heroes in China have held up a blank sheet of paper.

Thomas Jefferson said that “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty.” For at least a few days, the power of conscience and civil disobedience defeated high-tech totalitarianism in China.

The desire for human dignity is unstoppable, and courage is contagious. The A4 Revolution might be crushed for now, but the courage, solidarity and powerful voice for freedom and democracy will enlighten people, inspire activism, and eventually overthrow this giant regime that is based on violence and fear.

A recent example of its rule by violence and fear, is many jailed protestors have been tortured. The CCP seems invincible, but to many protestors and witnesses, it can become just a paper tiger when awakened people decide to take collective action. To some, the CCP seems invincible, but to many protestors and witnesses, it can become just a paper tiger when awakened people decide to take collective action. 

 Teng Biao is Pozen Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago and a human rights lawyer. 

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    Mute Niamh Hayes
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    Dec 5th 2022, 10:28 AM

    So who helped them develop these social credit score apps and surveillance. Big tech hand in hand with big government is truly distopian. I think covid did us a favor to open our eyes to where this is heading unless we wake up to it and block it.

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    Mute Eamonn O'Hanrahan
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    Dec 5th 2022, 8:18 AM

    And what the f. happened to the mantra that this is a deadly virus?

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    Mute SPQH
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    Dec 5th 2022, 8:30 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: it is still a deadly virus if not protected, the point is, what has China done to protect its citizens only to lock them up? The elderly there deeply distrust western medicine, but Xi has been changing his own mantras, and instead of better messaging to the elderly seems to be using the virus to exert ever more control over the newly created Middle classes there, it suits his new direction, which is a hark back to an older dictator we all remember.

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    Mute Gerard Carthy
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    Dec 5th 2022, 8:34 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: and what happened to the Journal’s daily opinion pieces from the likes of Orla Hegarty and Scally et all on why Ireland needed to follow China and stop unnecessary deaths. Gaslighting. Completely piss take.

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    Mute G man
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    Dec 5th 2022, 8:36 AM

    @SPQH: I’m not protected from it, should I be dead?

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    Mute Paul Cunningham
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    Dec 5th 2022, 8:38 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: People acting as if the world didn’t come up with viable vaccines and fighting weaker variants as time went on. A lot has happened in the nearly 3 years since China unleashed this pox on the world.

    But then again I am commenting with 2 dogs right now so I guess I am the real fool.

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    Mute Eamonn O'Hanrahan
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    Dec 5th 2022, 9:08 AM

    @G man: well, if you’re a frail 75 year old with a life threatening underlying condition you should be worried, COVID and a lot of other things could precipitate the end

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    Mute SPQH
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    Dec 5th 2022, 9:34 AM

    @G man: ok, I probably should have phrased it better, it CAN be a deadly virus if not protected, and as you know its largely the elderly that are hardest hit, and that’s the reasoning their using for the continued lockdowns in China, they’re right to be concerned about their elderly population, but joining the dots it would SEEM this is being used as an excuse to exert control on the greater population. On death, it’s not absolute like you’re suddenly dead because you’re not protected, but you know this, you’re just being pedantic.

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Dec 5th 2022, 10:30 AM

    @Gerard Carthy: Almost no one in China was previously infected due to strict lockdown policies, so no natural immunity, and they mostly rely on the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine, which is ineffective against Omicron (See Peng at al.). So Chinese have almost 0% immunity to Omicron.

    Peng, et al., 2022. Waning immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern among vaccinees in Hong Kong. EBioMedicine, 77, p.103904.

    As a result, the Omicron fatality rate for people over 70 was 4.5% in Hong Kong, but it was only 0.48% in Singapore which used effective vaccines and has prior immunity from past infections.

    So they are stuck in perpetual lockdowns.

    Thus:

    “… omicron remains formidable in the absence of immunity, as has been seen in Hong Kong, where low rates of previous infection — and of vaccination among the elderly — have led to a staggering case fatality ratio during the unfolding omicron surge.”

    Taylor, L., 2022. Covid-19: Hong Kong reports world’s highest death rate as zero covid strategy fails. BMJ, 376(o420), p.35177535.

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Dec 5th 2022, 11:07 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: “if you’re a frail 75 year old with a life threatening underlying condition you should be worried,”

    Research found that people in the UK who died in the first COVID-19 wave in 2020, died on average between 9 and 12 years prematurely.

    Some think this was estimate was a bit excessive, by a couple of years, but it nevertheless illustrates that people who died were not at death’s door.

    A later study confirmed these findings, it found that people who died due to COVID-19 in US, Italy and Belgium, died between 6 and 8 years prematurely.

    So from this research, people who died due to COVID-19 in Ireland, most likely died between more than 5 years prematurely on average.

    Refs.:

    Hanlon, et al., 2020. COVID-19–exploring the implications of long-term condition type and extent of multimorbidity on years of life lost: a modelling study. Wellcome Open Research, 5.

    Pifarré i Arolaset al., 2021. Years of life lost to COVID-19 in 81 countries. Scientific reports, 11(1), pp.1-6.

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    Mute Trevor Schmitt
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    Dec 5th 2022, 9:51 AM

    Was watching a documentary on DW news about zero-covid in China. They made some truck driver quarantine in his truck for 2 weeks. Clamped the tires so he couldn’t drive off and told him to open a window to use the bathroom.

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Dec 5th 2022, 11:18 AM

    @Gerard Carthy: Almost no one in China was previously infected due to strict lockdown policies, so nearly 0% natural immunity, and they mostly rely on dodgy Chinese vaccines e.g. the CoronaVac vaccine is almost totally ineffective against Omicron (See Peng at al.). So Chinese has almost 0% immunity against Omicron.

    Peng, et al., 2022. Waning immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern among vaccinees in Hong Kong. EBioMedicine, 77, p.103904.

    As a result, the Omicron fatality rate for people over 70 was 4.5% in Hong Kong, as bad as 2020, but it was only 0.48% in Singapore, which uses effective vaccines and has prior immunity from past infections (this also means, in China, Omicron is as deadly as the variant that circulated in 2020).

    So China is stuck in perpetual lockdowns.

    We on the other hand have immunity from prior infections and effective vaccines, and that is why we no longer need lockdowns. Lockdowns in 2020 were necessary before vaccine and immunity built up.

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    Mute Crow
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    Dec 5th 2022, 12:59 PM

    @David Jordan: there’s no immunity from prior infections what planet are you on?

    There’s people on their 5th and 6th infection already.

    Better vaccines is the only way out of this.

    China doesn’t care about a few old or vulnerable people dying, they care about having a productive workforce and a strong military. So long-COVID is their issue, not acute COVID. There’s no treatment or preventative yet, so China will keep going until their is. https://twitter.com/yanzhonghuang/status/1586537964267798530?s=46&t=CaWkEwjp2refvjm_0fC8QA

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Dec 5th 2022, 1:45 PM

    @Crow: Sorry, I wasn’t clear.

    Very few people in China have had a prior infection, strict lockdown policy prevented infections, so there’s almost no natural immunity in China.

    Also, two doses of Chinese developed vaccines aren’t affective against Omicron. And in any case, 25% of elderly aren’t vaccinated at all and I since read Chinese developed vaccines are reasonably effective, if people get 3 doses (a booster), but 60% did not get a booster.

    Omicron is a deadly among unvaccinated individuals, as it was in 2020, if they were never were infected before.

    “At the end of January 2022, Hong Kong’s confirmed cumulative covid-19 death toll stood at 205 for the entire pandemic.6 Within two months, the toll was 7945 and rising, predominantly among the older population, most of whom were unvaccinated.7 HowdidHongKonggofrombeinganexemplarof covid-19 control, to the place with the worst covid-19 death rate in the world?

    How did things in this highly sophisticated city of 7.4 million people, two years into the pandemic, and a year after the arrival of covid-19 vaccines, go so terribly wrong?”

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Dec 5th 2022, 2:00 PM

    @Crow: I re-read your confused post a few times. I think you do distinguish between infection versus death.

    However, T-cell immunity protects against severe symptoms, and that’s boosted by prior infection and vaccination. T-cells aren’t as specific as antibodies, and they the kick in after a person gets infected.

    As a result it’s possible get infected by new variants, which circumvent antibodies, but avoid developing symptoms (over half remain asymptomatic) and those that do develop symptoms, they remain mild.

    Isn’t that the main thing, preventing serious symptoms and death.

    “There’s no treatment or preventative yet”

    Also not true, Paxlovid, a 3C-like protease inhibiton, is highly effective at preventing severe Covid-19 symptoms. Since is lowers viral load, it also help prevent onward infections.

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