US President Joe Biden “keeps himself informed of what is happening, he is following it closely,” White House spokesman John Kirby said of the protests in China on Monday.
“The White House supports the right to demonstrate peacefully,” he said again in an exchange with the press, after demonstrations of historic proportions in China against health restrictions and in favor of more freedoms.
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, a body attached to the American president, did not comment on the substance of these claims: “These protesters speak for themselves.”
The spokesperson added that “nothing (had changed) in our desire to keep the channels of communication open” with the Chinese authorities, shortly after the meeting between Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit. in Indonesia.
The two leaders, during a meeting intended to demine the relations which have become very tense between the two superpowers, had signaled their desire to relaunch discussions on certain areas where it would be possible for them to cooperate.
“We still intend to continue these discussions,” said John Kirby.
“We have long said that everyone has the right to peaceful protest, here in the United States and around the world,” a State Department spokesperson previously said.
“This includes China,” he said in a statement.
The United States considers vaccination, testing and treatment to be more effective against Covid-19 than strict restrictions, added the spokesperson for American diplomacy.
“We believe it will be very difficult for China to contain the virus with their zero Covid strategy,” he concluded. “It will be very difficult to maintain confinements and zero Covid”.
The Chinese authorities were trying Monday to stem a movement of anger of historic proportions against health restrictions and for more freedoms.
On Sunday, a crowd of demonstrators, responding to calls on social networks, took to the streets in particular in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan, catching the police off guard. By its extent on the territory, the mobilization seems the most important since the pro-democracy rallies of 1989, harshly repressed.
The fire that killed 10 people in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region (northwest), has catalyzed the anger of many Chinese, some accusing health restrictions of having blocked the work of relief workers.
“Pretext”
Abroad, vigils have been organized by members of the diaspora in tribute to the victims, such as in Los Angeles on Sunday or in Washington on Monday, where around a hundred people, including many students, gathered.
Chinese officials “take the pretext of Covid and use excessively strict confinements to control the population of China. They don’t care about human lives,” a 21-year-old Chinese student told AFP, unwilling to give only his surname, Chen, and not his first name.
Of the protests across China, another student who similarly wished to introduce himself as Zhou said, “My friends and I never imagined things would develop so quickly.”
The demonstrators, gathered next to George Washington University in the center of the capital, held white sheets, symbols of censorship, and chanted “Freedom of expression, freedom of assembly! Down with the firewall!”.
“The fire that caused these deaths woke us up,” said Tahir Imin, a Uyghur activist and scholar also present.
Earlier Monday, still in the US capital, around 25 Uyghurs gathered outside the State Department to call on Washington to exert more pressure on Beijing.
Salih Hudayar, an American-Uyghur campaigner for independence from Xinjiang, said he was “very surprised” that the Chinese protesters were able to “go out into the streets and demonstrate, and at least express their anger”.
“As Uyghurs, you can’t do that. Our people are just too scared,” he said.