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| A protester holds a sign that reads, "Free China #No Xi Jinping !! CCP," at a rally in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap |
'Protest may subside but frustrations won't. It could happen again,' scholar says
By Jung Min-ho
Chinese residents held a rally in Seoul Wednesday night in a rare ― if not unprecedented ― gathering here against the stringent COVID-19 measures in their home country, demanding freedom and human rights while covering their faces due to the fear of being persecuted.
Around 100 protesters gathered in a street near Hongik University, a popular area for young people, to pay their respects to the victims of a blaze last week in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Province in Western China, and express their fury over the lockdown measures, which were blamed for delaying firefighters from saving them.
Some held up signs reading "Free China" and "Dictator Out" as well as blank white pieces of paper ― a symbol of defiance against Beijing's censorship ― as similar protests across China and beyond took place, in the boldest display of dissent against the Chinese authorities since the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989.
At the Seoul gathering, which was organized through social media, people vocally condemned the Chinese government's strict virus restrictions known as the "zero-COVID" strategy. For nearly three years, the signature policy of President Xi Jinping has been to keep the infection and death rates low compared to other countries, at the expense of the economy and people's freedom of movement.
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| Protesters gather to pay their respects to the fire victims in Xinjiang during a rally in Seoul, Wednesday. Strict lockdown measures were blamed for delaying firefighters from saving the victims. Yonhap |
A Chinese resident who participated in the rally said that she decided to do so in order to show solidarity with her compatriots who are frustrated by the draconian COVID policy.
"I have never been able to visit my family in China since the beginning of COVID-19 … I don't want the zero-COVID policy or the health QR code. I want basic human rights," she told the JoongAng Ilbo, a local daily.
Speaking to The Korea Times, a longtime human rights activist for China, who didn't want to be named, said it takes a lot of courage ― and is a major risk ― to raise one's voice against the Chinese Communist Party.
"They (protesters) might be questioned over the protest that they took part in when, or even before, they arrive home," he said.
Just three years ago in the Hongik University area, Chinese students made headlines for the opposite reason: In a counter-rally against those criticizing Beijing's attempt to suppress the democracy of Hong Kong, they fiercely defended their government. This time, no such move was observed.
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| Residents confront health officials who are blocking the entrance of a residential compound amid a COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai, China, in this image obtained from a social media video released Wednesday. Reuters-Yonhap |
All this suggests the severe depth of the frustrations felt by many Chinese, especially among the younger generation, according to Lee Sang-man, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University.
"The protests, which are unprecedented, appear to be organized by undergraduate students in their early 20s. They are the generation after the nation's reform and open-door policy, which brought economic prosperity. They grew up with more individual rights and freedoms, and may react more sensitively if they feel their interests are violated by the government's policy," Lee said.
He believes the protests will likely lead to the relaxation of some COVID measures, but not the abolition of them. He also said, if protests spread further, Xi will use whatever means necessary to contain them.
"The protests may subside. But it could happen again," he said. "Other countries are putting the COVID crisis behind them. But for China, this may well be the beginning of a health and political crisis."
On Wednesday, China's Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who oversees the nation's COVID efforts, reportedly suggested that some of the anti-virus measures would be eased in the coming days as China was entering a "new stage" in its epidemic control despite rising case numbers.
