The cry for freedom has just been nipped in the bud in China, where after a handful of days of protests calling for an end to the “zero COVID” policy, the departure of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the resignation of dictator Xi Jinping, the regime has just released its foreseeable repressive arsenal against “infiltration” and “sabotage” activities carried out by “hostile forces”.
On Tuesday, the CCP’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission – which oversees law enforcement in the Middle Kingdom – said it was indeed determined to “suppress […] criminal actions that seek to break the social order and [à] protect […] social stability,” reported the regime-run New China news agency.
At the same time, the central government has timidly responded to the concerns of demonstrators, exhausted and frustrated by three years of a policy to combat the spread of COVID-19 which is based on constraints and monitored confinements, by announcing its intention to speed up the vaccination campaign for people aged 80 and over.
The vaccination rate is less than 66% in this age group, compared to more than 90% in Quebec. China has still not approved RNA vaccines, which are scientifically considered more effective than the national vaccine developed by Beijing.
“Protests are largest in China since 1989 [quand le mouvement prodémocratique de la place Tian’anmen a été réprimé dans la violence par Pékin]and that is why the party-state apprehends them with a very high level of concern”, explains in an interview with the To have to the philosopher Jiwei Ci, professor at the University of Hong Kong and author of the essay Democracy in China: The Coming Crisis. “His response is a mixture of minimal compromise, which is not presented as such, and, above all, of a repression which promises to be severe intended to create a deterrent effect and to crush the movement before the things really do get out of hand. »
Since Monday, the deployment of the police in the main districts of Beijing, but also in the cities of the provinces where the protest was heard from last Friday, had the effect of reducing to a trickle the number of demonstrators in the streets. On Tuesday, several Chinese universities also sent students home and announced that upcoming classes and exams would be held remotely.
Tsinghua University, where Xi Jinping studied and where students on Sunday took part in the wave of opposition to authoritarian policies to fight COVID-19, is one of them, as are several schools in Guangdong province. , in the south. The measure aims, according to university authorities, to “protect students” against the coronavirus.
“There will be no mercy [envers les manifestants] “, predicts the historian specializing in China Peidong Sun, joined by The duty at Cornell University, USA. The professor also believes that despite its strength, the movement will certainly not be able to induce a reversal of Beijing’s zero COVID policy, even if this strategy, with its repeated confinements, daily tests, movement controls and closures. factories, now seems to be doing more harm than good. China is one of the last countries in the world to apply it.
On Monday, authorities in Beijing announced they would stop blocking access to apartment buildings where infections have been detected, giving the appearance of listening to protesters who, for nearly three days , demanded in the streets “less tests” and more “freedom”.
“Even if canceling the strategy would benefit the Chinese people and society, neither the central leadership of the CCP nor local governments would do it,” Peidong Sun said. For Xi Jinping, the zero-COVID policy is a national policy he initiated and governed since the pandemic began and has saved millions of people, according to CCP propaganda. As a dictator who has just obtained a third mandate at the head of the country”, he would inflict nothing less than a “slap in the face” if he were to make a change of course, which would call into question “the legitimacy of his power,” he adds.
hold the power
On Tuesday, China acknowledged the existence of 38,421 new cases of COVID-19 among its population. A drop of water in its basin of 1.4 billion inhabitants. More than 90% of these cases were symptomless, fueling the regime’s fears that lifting health restrictions altogether would lead to an overwhelm of China’s healthcare system and a dramatic number of deaths among the elderly population, including coverage. vaccination fluctuates between ineffectiveness and insufficiency.
“When it comes to public health, winter is definitely the worst time to start easing the zero COVID policy,” Jiwei Ci said. “But this consideration is certainly only the tip of a huge political iceberg. The real reasons that led the party-state to adopt the policy and to persist in it, despite its counter-productive character, still remain very nebulous and still form the crux of the problem, a knot that the regime does not understand. intention to undo. »
And he adds: “There is, however, no reason to doubt at this time that the party-state will do whatever it takes to hold on to power, as it did the last time, in 1989. . »
“Compared to 1989, today’s CCP has mastered high-tech equipment that enables it to be more repressive,” said Peidong Sun.
On Monday, demonstrators who had taken to the streets of Beijing the day before to denounce health restrictions received calls from the police on their phones, without ever having been arrested beforehand.
“Xi Jinping’s priority is to maintain the absolute power of the CCP and political stability in China,” continues the academic. The daily life of the Chinese, the economy of China and the image of the country abroad are placed in the background, because the most important thing for him will be to bring down the current movement. No matter the cost. »
With Agence France-Presse