China COVID protest: Very strong political tinge to some demonstrations, say experts

The protests in China have now gone beyond the demand for an 'End to Zero-COVID Policy', says James Miles, China writer-at-large, The Economist. "There is a very strong political tinge to it in at least some of the protests that we have seen in Shanghai — as protesters saying; "Down with the Communist Party’, ‘Down with Xi Jinping," he said.

Miles said that even during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest, he didn't hear protesters saying "Down with the Communist Party". "So this takes it to a level, I think, that the government is going to be extremely nervous about," he told CNBC-TV18.

Protests are raging across China because of its zero-COVID policy, which has given the government the authority to place citizens under prolonged lockdowns even if only a handful of cases are reported. As per the latest data, China reported nearly 40,000 per-day COVID cases for a fourth-straight day, setting a new record high.

Protests sparked after a fire broke out in a building that was under COVID restrictions and killed 10 people. Protestors were seen chanting slogans against Xi Jinping and demanding that he step down. While police dragged away protestors from the site, Chinese authorities have been monitoring social media sites for any news on the protests with certain search terms being wiped away.

Miles said the Chinese government is adept at handling small protests, however social media complicates the situation for the government. "Pictures of these protests have been circulating and of course, censors have been stepping in very quickly to try to stop that. I think they probably feel the wrong balance, when in a crisis like this, they feel that social media or the spread of information they dislike on social media can be controlled. But it is very difficult. People do find ways around censors' controls by publishing items that avoid certain key words that censors are trying to block and so on," he said, adding that this is going to be a sort of cat and mouse game.

Meanwhile, Ananth Krishnan, China Correspondent at The Hindu, too said that the protests are politically significant and that the citizens are exhausted with the restrictions.

He believes that the situation has gone beyond the enforcement of lockdowns to the politics underpinning it. "There were people calling for freedom, for free press. So it has sort of morphed into these wider sort of concerns for people," he said, adding that economically as well it is a huge factor underpinning it.

He said students, especially feel they have had their youth stolen. "They have been living in dormitories, extended periods of online learning, and many entering the worst job market, possibly in China's reform era. So that's the sentiment and mood right now," he said.

Krishnan thinks the Chinese government may be compelled to dilute the restrictions to some extent.

"I think they will be under pressure to at least announce some limited easing measures, as far as lockdowns are concerned. Because people have made it very clear that the economic and social costs of this policy have really risen to such a high extent," he said.