Two Chinese cities ease COVID-19 curbs after protests spread - CNA

EASING CURBS

As well as the easing of curbs in Guangzhou and Chongqing, officials in Zhengzhou, the site of a big Foxconn factory making Apple iPhones that has been the scene of worker unrest over COVID-19, announced the "orderly" resumption of businesses, including supermarkets, gyms and restaurants.

Earlier national health officials said China would respond to "urgent concerns" raised by the public and that COVID-19 rules should be implemented more flexibly, according to a region's conditions.

But while the easing of some measures appears to be an attempt to appease the public, authorities have also begun to seek out those who have been at the protests.

"Police came to my front door to ask me about it all and get me to complete a written record," a Beijing resident who declined to be identified told Reuters on Wednesday.

Another resident said some friends who posted videos of protests on social media were taken to a police station and asked to sign a promise they "would not do that again".

Several people gave similar accounts to Reuters on Tuesday.

It was not clear how authorities identified the people they wanted to question, nor how many such people authorities contacted.

Beijing's Public Security Bureau did not comment.

In a statement that did not refer to the protests, the Communist Party's top body in charge of law enforcement agencies said on Tuesday that China would crack down on "the infiltration and sabotage activities of hostile forces".

The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission also said "illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order" would not be tolerated.

The foreign ministry has said rights and freedoms must be exercised lawfully.

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2022-12-01 00:55:00Z
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Chinese leadership mourns ‘insurmountable loss’ as Jiang Zemin dies aged 96 - South China Morning Post

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1. Chinese leadership mourns ‘insurmountable loss’ as Jiang Zemin dies aged 96  South China Morning Post
2. Former China president Jiang Zemin dies aged 96  CNA
3. Jiang Zemin dies: Sino-S'pore economic ties flourished under ex-China president's leadership  The Straits Times
4. China Protests: With Jiang Zemin's Death, Xi Can't Risk a Repeat of the Past  Bloomberg
5. Jiang Zemin, Former China President, Dies at 96: Leader During Economic Boom  Bloomberg
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2022-11-30 14:06:31Z
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Covid-19 protests escalate in Guangzhou as China lockdown anger boils - The Straits Times

SHANGHAI - People in the Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou clashed with white hazmat-suited riot police on Tuesday night, videos on social media showed, as frustration with stringent Covid-19 rules boiled over, three years into the pandemic.

The clashes in the southern city marked an escalation from protests in the commercial hub of Shanghai, capital Beijing and other cities over the weekend in mainland China’s biggest wave of civil disobedience since President Xi Jinping took power a decade ago.

Resentment is growing as China’s Covid-19-hit economy sputters after decades of breakneck growth, which formed the basis of an unwritten social contract between the ruling Communist Party and a population whose freedoms have been dramatically curtailed.

In one video posted on Twitter, dozens of riot police in all-white pandemic gear, holding shields over their heads, advanced in formation over what appeared to be torn down lockdown barriers as objects fly at them.

Police were later seen escorting a row of people in handcuffs to an unknown location.

Another video clip showed people throwing objects at the police, while a third showed a tear gas canister landing in the middle of a small crowd on a narrow street, with people then running to escape the fumes.

Reuters verified that the videos were filmed in Guangzhou’s Haizhu district, the scene of Covid-19-related unrest two weeks ago, but could not determine when the clips were taken or the exact sequence of events and what sparked the clashes.

Social media posts said the clashes took place on Tuesday night and were caused by a dispute over lockdown curbs.

The government of Guangzhou, a city hard-hit in the latest wave of infections, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China Dissent Monitor, run by US government-funded Freedom House, estimated at least 27 demonstrations took place across China from Saturday to Monday. Australia’s ASPI think tank estimated 43 protests in 22 cities.

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2022-11-30 05:47:34Z
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Baling MP to be probed for calling PM an 'agent of Israel', say cops - The Star Online

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1. Baling MP to be probed for calling PM an 'agent of Israel', say cops  The Star Online
2. Malaysia's PM Anwar acts against a critic who accuses him of being an agent of Israel  The Straits Times
3. PH to counter 'overwhelming' slander against Anwar, govt  Free Malaysia Today
4. PM issues letter demanding apology from Baling MP over audio alleging Israel links  The Star Online
5. Israeli agent? I'm more concerned about welfare of the people, says PM Anwar [NSTTV]  New Straits Times
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2022-11-29 12:53:00Z
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China to accelerate push to vaccinate elderly against COVID-19 - CNA

China's low vaccination rates, particularly among the older population, have long been seen as prolonging Beijing's no-tolerance approach to COVID-19.

Just 65.8 per cent of people over 80 are fully vaccinated, NHC officials told a press conference Tuesday.

And China has not yet approved mRNA vaccines, proven to be more effective, for public use.

Many fear that lifting that policy while swathes of the population remain not fully immunised could overwhelm China's healthcare system and cause over a million deaths.

But the zero-COVID policy has stoked massive unrest, with people taking to the streets in China's major cities on Sunday to protest draconian lockdowns and broader restrictions on freedom of movement.

A deadly fire last week in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang region, was the catalyst for the wave of outrage, with protesters blaming COVID-19 restrictions for hampering rescue efforts - claims the government has denied.

China logged 38,421 domestic infections Tuesday, slightly down from record highs seen over the weekend and comparably low when compared to caseloads seen in western countries during the height of the pandemic.

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2022-11-29 08:51:00Z
1672812601

China Uses Police, Censors, Quiet Covid Easing to Stem Protests - Bloomberg

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1. China Uses Police, Censors, Quiet Covid Easing to Stem Protests  Bloomberg
2. China Corona News Today LIVE: Chinese Citizens Protest Against Xi Jinping | Protest In China News  India Today
3. China moves to curb rare, nationwide protests  CNA
4. Pressure on China's Covid-19 strategy  The Straits Times
5. China's Xi Jinping Should Heed Covid-Zero Protests  Bloomberg
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2022-11-29 08:58:15Z
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Cities in China under heavy policing after protests - CNA

SHANGHAI: China's major cities of Beijing and Shanghai were blanketed with security on Tuesday (Nov 29) in the wake of nationwide rallies calling for political freedoms and an end to COVID-19 lockdowns.

The country's leadership faced a weekend of protests not seen in decades, as anger over unrelenting lockdowns fuels deep-rooted frustration with the country's political system as a whole.

A deadly fire last week in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang region, was the catalyst for the wave of outrage, with protesters taking to the streets of cities around the country.

The demonstrators said COVID-19 restrictions were to blame for hampering rescue efforts - claims the government has denied as it accused "forces with ulterior motives" of linking the fire deaths to the strict COVID-19 controls.

Anger over lockdowns has widened to calls for political change, with protesters holding up blank sheets of paper to symbolise the censorship the world's most populous country is subjected to.

"SO MANY POLICE"

More protests were planned for Monday night but did not materialise, with AFP journalists in Beijing and Shanghai noting a heavy police presence of hundreds of vehicles and officers on the streets.

People who had attended weekend rallies told AFP Monday they had received phone calls from law enforcement officers demanding information about their movements.

In Shanghai, near a site where weekend protests saw bold calls for the resignation of President Xi Jinping, bar staff told AFP they had been ordered to close at 10pm (10pm, Singapore time) for "disease control".

Small clusters of officers were deployed to metro exits near the protest site.

Throughout Monday, AFP journalists saw officers detaining four people, later releasing one, with a reporter counting 12 police cars within 100m along Wulumuqi street in Shanghai, the focal point of Sunday's rally.

Despite the overwhelming police deployment, the frustration with zero-COVID remained palpable.

"The (zero-COVID) policies now? They're just too strict. They kill more people than COVID," one 17-year-old passer-by who did not want to be named told AFP, saying he had been surrounded by police when passing through the area.

In an audio recording shared with AFP, a man can be heard asking for his address, to which the passer-by - who asked to be named Ray - insists law enforcement officers do not "have the right" to demand it.

Elsewhere, rallies did go ahead.

In semi-autonomous Hong Kong, where mass democracy protests erupted in 2019, dozens gathered at the Chinese University to mourn the victims of the Urumqi fire.

"Don't look away. Don't forget," protesters shouted.

In Hangzhou, just over 170km southwest of Shanghai, there was strict security and sporadic protests in the city's downtown, with one attendee telling AFP that 10 people were detained.

"The atmosphere was disorderly. There were few people and we were separated. There were lots of police, it was chaos," she said.

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2022-11-29 07:43:00Z
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