The US envoy to China has urged Xi Jinping’s administration not to interfere with peaceful protests, just as a Communist Party security chief has warned against “hostile” forces.
China has been rocked by rare political protests in more than 20 cities as vigils for a deadly apartment fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang, which was partly blamed on coronavirus restrictions, turned into protests against politics Xi’s zero-Covid and state censorship.
“We believe the Chinese people have the right to peaceful protest, they have the right to make their views known, they have the right to be heard,” Ambassador Nicholas Burns said in a video call from Beijing with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Wednesday.
“It’s a fundamental right all over the world – it should be – and that right shouldn’t be hindered, and it shouldn’t be hindered,” he said.
Chinese officials barely referred to the protests, most of which appeared to have been put down on Monday. However, in a speech reported by state media on Tuesday evening, Chen Wenqing, head of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, said the government should resolve disputes “in a timely manner” while maintaining order.
“[We] must resolutely suppress the infiltration and sabotage activities of hostile forces as well as illegal and criminal activities that disrupt social order,” Chen was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. “Social stability must be ensured.”
Since the Urumqi fire last week, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has tracked more than 40 public protests in 22 Chinese cities, including four on Monday.
Experts have warned of brutal reprisals against an unknown number of people detained over the weekend in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Chengdu. China’s criminal conviction rate is 99% and the state is notorious for stifling dissent.
Chinese health authorities on Tuesday blamed local governments for their handling of coronavirus outbreaks as Beijing distanced itself from the crisis and pledged to increase vaccination rates for the elderly.
There were signs on Wednesday that local authorities in many areas were trying to ease lockdown restrictions further, despite the country battling its worst wave of Covid-19 infections since the pandemic began there. almost three years old.
China reported 36,683 new locally transmitted cases on Wednesday, down slightly from the previous day’s total but still well above the peak number of daily cases reported during a major outbreak in April. The highest caseloads were reported in Chongqing and Guangdong provinces, with around 8,000 new cases each.
Additional reporting by William Langley and Gloria Li in Hong Kong
