China's Fake Anti-Lockdown Protests, A Failed Color Revolution Made in the U$A

 

 

U.S.-Western Countries Cynically Attack China’s “Zero-COVID” Policy While Their Own Failure Has Killed Millions of People

 

 

 

Lee Siu Hin 李小轩

Shanghai, China

China-US Solidarity Network 中美民间交流协会

December 30^th, 2022

 

Late last November several fringe groups held anti-lockdown protests across China that were dubbed “the A4 paper protests” and were hyped by the western media. They were led by western-backed Chinese right-wing violent QAnon anti-lockdown anti-vaxers and  supported by the Chinese western-backed medical industrial complex and pro-western elites. Together they forced the government to abandon the “dynamic zero-COVID” policy, a move that is no more than an orchestrated attempt at a western-backed Color Revolution, and a Chinese right-wing riot for their own selfish agenda that does not represent the opinion of the majority of the Chinese or the world’s opinion.

 

China has had a successful anti-COVID campaign, so who is against it?

Since the Wuhan outbreak in December 2019, China has adopted the “Dynamic Zero-COVID” policy which included mass testing, contact tracing, lockdown and makeshift hospitals for every COVID patient. It has suppressed more than 100 outbreaks across the country over the past three years, including large-scale outbreaks such as the Shanghai outbreak and lockdown of March-June 2022 (5/26/2022 Lee Siu Hin: My Shanghai Lockdown Life, Challenge and Community Spirit in Lockdown Shanghai in  Socialist China that spread to more than 20 provinces and cities, http://www.actionla.org:8080/actionla/front/detailed3.jsp?title=Lee%20Siu%20Hin%20Journey%20to%20China%202022:%20My%20China%20Activism,%20Factfinding%20&%20Solidarity%20Working%20Trip&newsId=2016&filename=1653562372468&ext=jpg)

 

With this remarkable effort, China was able to avoid more than a few million deaths and the infection of hundreds of millions of people. China has seen an increase in the average life expectancy of the Chinese people over the past 3 years while achieving the highest economic growth rate in the world and enjoying stability and safety across the country.

 

The Chinese central government at the top and the provincial and municipal levels at the grassroots level have given priority to people’s lives and have shown the willingness and ability to concentrate their efforts to fight the epidemic. China has built a strong grassroots network capable of quickly and effectively mobilizing Communist Party of China (CPC) members, medical personnel, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), community workers, businesses and volunteers. The masses of the people have demonstrated great resilience and social responsibility in fighting the virus by supporting their neighbors and communities.

 

As John Welsh, a medical doctor and activist, says:” China’s GDP has grown faster than that of the U.S. for each of the first two years of the pandemic and the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) predicts that the same will be true for 2022, 2023 and 2024! Lives have been saved – in fact, a quarter of humanity has been protected from the virus, something historically unprecedented. And the economy has done better than the U.S. economy! Is China’s performance without setbacks, problems and sacrifices?”

 

Of course not, he concluded, but “it is a far better outcome than we have had in the U.S. or any other major industrial economy.”

 

Undoubtedly China’s “dynamic Zero-COVID” policy negatively affected certain economic sectors. However, most of the working class has been well protected and not affected. For the past three years, there have been almost no massive layoffs, no inflation, no bankruptcy, no lost homes or people made homeless due to the pandemic. That is what I have seen over the past three years. (For more information, read my “Lee Siu Hin Journey to China: My China Activism Factfinding & Solidarity Working Trip” series http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/China2022/PartOne.html)

 

Over the past three years, based on the severity of different COVID variants circulating in China, it had periods of looser policy and periods of stricter policy. Depending on where you live in China, you were either “lucky” or “unlucky,” that is you could face either no lockdown or mass testing or lockdown for few months with daily testing.

 

Last November, due to pressure from well-planned and well-funded western-backed anti-lockdown protestors, social elites and the medical industrial complex, the Chinese government announced plans to scale-back the “dynamic zero COVID” policy. China begin optimizing precise COVID prevention and control measures and issued the “920” rules (lists of 20 new rules) and added another 10 new ones in early December. They dropped contact tracing, lockdown, makeshift hospitals and mass testing, shifting the anti-pandemic responsibility from the government to the individual. Beginning January 8^th 2023 China will further downgrading the COVID-19 management from Class A to Class B, and lifting all international entry restrictions for all foreign travelers.

 

But China’s “Freedom Day” didn’t happen – instead massive outbreaks quickly occurred across the country.

 

The long-awaited Chinese right wing riots

Who in China wanted to condemn the successful anti-COVID policy and “open-up” the country? The economic elites who had been hit by U.S.-imposed sanctions and the trade war against China, but who prefer to blame everything on their country. Who are these elites, businesses and the middle class? According to economists they are mostly from the service sectors:

1. Restaurant, bar, entertainment, cinema and KTV industry

2. Transportation industry

3. Tourism and hospitality industry

4. Financial markets

5. International trades (especially trade with U.S. and other western countries)

6. Online industry

7. Pharmaceutical industry

8. Real estate

 

While some argue correctly that millions of workers from the restaurant and service sectors have been laid off due to the lockdown, the health and jobs of hundreds of millions of Chinese industrial workers have been saved.

 

The recent protests, mostly backed by people in the eight sectors listed above, were absolutely NOT the reason behind the recent announcement of the relaxation of the policies. Mario Cavolo who work and lives in China says: “The new round of 20 relaxed policies were announced many days before the protests began. The protests were understandable and served as an important passionate confirming nudge to the government that the policies needed to be relaxed. But the government already knew this and had already begun relaxing them substantially.” Immediately after the November protests, “the government moved the process along more quickly as an act confirming that the government was listening to the people and preventing further unrest.”

 

The street protests and nonexistent “protests of political prisoners” mostly have no support but are condemned by the majority of the Chinese public. The “protests” have been twisted by western media in an effort as “pro-democracy protest” to demonize China and its successful COVID-19 policy.

 

An American teacher friend of mine, who has been in Wuhan, China, for the past several years, experienced the Wuhan lockdown of January-March, 2020. He only got COVID after the opening up last month and he remains very supportive of China’s policies. While he had been annoyed by the long lockdown, he has been very angry about the anti-lockdown student protesters from his campus. Here are snippets from the two-week long exchanges between us on WeChat(the Chinese social networking apps like WhatsApp):

 

“Those protests are the exception not the rule; they involve small numbers of people and are an attempt to undermine institutions when spring boarded back into China via unblocked U.S. media. The positive side is that the pandemic control measures are being optimized and localized.

“The system of government is reflexive, resilient, and responsive. Western analysts think that it is a house of cards and inflexible.

“I would also consider how the organization can and will likely respond to these kinds of events. On campus, class monitors stand between the school administration and students. There are also party branches among students, faculty, and staff. Campuses are hotbeds of liberalism but have been experiencing an explosion of recruitment (to the CPC) over the past several years. So I expect the ideological campaign to heat up – with the liberals exposed, it will make it easier to engage in political struggle.

“Off campus, neighborhood committees and district-wide bodies will likely take the lead in optimizing pandemic controls as well as in the ideological campaign.

“Expats tend to be anti-communist and even if they are proficient in the language, they are all about promoting western liberalism. I always find it baffling when I meet expats with more time in China than me, who speak the language and still are clueless about democratic centralism, how the organization operates, and who adopt an ahistorical nihilist attitude.

“The way CNN is hyping those demos and playing up the anti-CPC/Xi content pisses me off.” (11/27/2022)

 

“I am glad they are exposed. I see those types every day at work, grad students who see themselves as the new mandarins, who see doing research as merely a stepping stone to a good job and fat paycheck, and who ignore the big picture of who pays for them to study and do research. Selfish, competitive, and cynical…..

“...CNN has been posting stories about campus unrest for several weeks now...to date I have not seen any manifestations of it on the campus where I work.

“They are opportunistically trying to exploit the general impatience we all feel with the pandemic controls and the intrusive disruptions.

“The minute I see stuff with themes of free speech, democracy, etc., I feel like barfing.

“It’s weird reading posts on LinkedIn from expats with thirty years or more expressing concerns about the current situation or stories on the sixthtone.com (China’s English online news) about how the pandemic controls are affecting people's livelihoods.”(11/27/2022)

 

“[It is] getting crazy at the university. After the protests, the leaders relaxed COVID controls and now we have a major outbreak on campus.

“Students are scared and are trying to leave to go back to their hometowns.

“Off campus, people are scared and the streets are empty…..

“... [O]n campus students are pissed off at the protesters and the ring leaders for the more unruly demos that got reported to the administration.

“[It] seems to me like there is a lot of quiet support for the aggressive COVID strategy.” (12/6/2022)

 

“… [It was] interesting today. My TA showed me a video of several hundred students protesting for freedom and human rights in front of the main admin building on the campus. Their demand was for the university to cancel in person exams so they could go home early.

“… the person who started the WeChat discussion group ([who] organized the protest) is a first year undergrad...

“… not like the other demos which focused on excessive COVID controls.

“… the group leaders were promoting waving blank paper, etc.

“… the president of the university spoke to the students during their demo.

“I think regular people on my street are not very sympathetic to the students.

“Well, I think the ordinary folks would dearly love to whip the students’ asses!” (12/8/2022)

 

The Chinese elite liberals don’t care about the working poor, they’re just exploiting social issues for their own gain. “Protests” at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory have received a lot of coverage in the western media. When there was a COVID outbreak in the factory, the government required the company to take care of the workers; while tens of thousands of full-time workers got health & pay protections and decided to stay, tens of thousands of part-time workers didn’t. With fear of getting infected and with no lockdown benefits, they correctly chose to break down the gate and walk back home, it’s clearly a Foxconn’s mismanagement, also condemned by the government.

 

Foxconn is not a mainland Chinese company; it’s a Taiwan company with a very close connection to the U.S. This is a labor issue, but certainly not an example of “labor unrest” or even a “labor uprising” against government as the U.S. AFL-CIO claims.

 

At his December 14th, 2022, conference with French journalists, Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to France, said that Chinese people have the right to express their dissatisfaction and complaints, “This is normal,” he said. “Through these demonstrations, the government can understand the wishes and demands of the people.” He continued, “We always adhere to the supremacy of the people and to the principle that ‘the government responds to the people's voice."

 

“But this time,” he continued, “external forces quickly seized the opportunity to conduct political manipulation. We can clearly smell the color revolutions that have frequently occurred in developing countries in recent years. What I said is based on evidence, and some Chinese people have been bought by external forces.”

Questions: (French journalists): By whom?

Answer (Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye): Outsiders.

Q: Who exactly?

A: I can't be specific. It is the external anti-China forces. Some people have analyzed social media in China, and they even point out who is being manipulated because these people are instigating and instigating on social media. For example, the "White Paper Parade," although it is white, is also a color revolution. Because white is also a color.

Q: People marched with blank papers because they were bought by foreign anti-China forces? Do you mean that?

A: That's for sure. Otherwise, an ordinary parade could not have such a serious meaning. I have noticed that the French media have exaggerated their reports, saying that this is the largest parade since 1989. In fact, this has nothing to do with the political turmoil in 1989. Someone deliberately connected the two, and you can see their attempt.

As I said just now, the Chinese government always holds the people at the top of its mind. When the people have expectations and demands, the Chinese government will respond quickly. This is why the central government requires local governments to accurately implement the 20 measures. Today, China's National Health Commission proposed 10 targeted optimization measures, so that local governments have more confidence in better implementing the previous 20 measures. This is also generally welcomed by the people, and the demonstrations also disappeared.

Even if the recent demonstrations were not instigated and initiated by external anti-China forces, at least they were used by them. These anti-China forces always try to politicize the demonstrations. As I said in my opening remarks, no country is perfect and every government has flaws. For us, all we have to do is correct the shortcomings while external forces want to destroy China. There is an essential difference between the two.”

(12/14/2022 Memorandum of Exchange between Ambassador Lu Shaye and the French Association of Diplomatic Correspondents; only in Chinese and French http://fr.china-embassy.gov.cn/fra/zfzj/202212/t20221214_10990095.htm)

 

人间正道是沧桑 “what kind of good person you want when the moment has changed”

When I left China to return to the U.S. for the “Sanctions: A Wreaking Ball in a Global Economy” national speaking tour (http://www.actionla.org:8080/actionla/front/detailed3.jsp?title=12/6-15%20LEE%20SIU%20HIN:%20Sanctions%20A%20Wrecking%20Ball%20in%20a%20Global%20Economy%20-%20December%202022%20National%20Speaking%20Tour&newsId=2242&filename=1671411875984&ext=jpg) on November 29^th, China was still under strict “dynamic zero-COVID” policy; it was safe to go into the streets and I personally didn’t know anyone who had gotten COVID. But as of December 21^st when I was back in China, almost everyone I know had been infected, many are very sick. Include my documentary “Vaccine and Sanctions” crews in Beijing, they all got sick and stay at home since early December for over a month.

 

I also got infected at the first day when I back to Shanghai; fortunately it’s very mild and non-symptom asymptomatic.    

 

Most people in China are now very angry about the anti-lockdown protesters, online QAnon celebrities, and the western-backed elite doctors who advised the government to falsely advocate a policy of “quickly opening up.” People were urged to get infected and move on –  the deception of “COVID will be over by summer 2023”, with promoting expensive U.S. vaccines/COVID treatments to China.

 

The “big lockdown ending party” didn’t happen; instead, millions of people are quickly being infected every day, which had never before been seen in China. The current outbreaks prove that for the past 3 years, the Chinese government under socialismhad done the right thing to protect people from getting infected. Because China has been very safe and protected from outside disasters for the past 3 years, living like beautiful flowers in a greenhouse, many people had loose guard about the seriousness of the pandemic.

 

When the pro-western right wing online opinion influencers and “experts”, successfully exploited public frustration with the lockdown for their own selfish agendas, many people initially buy-in; just like a color revolution when the protesters claiming “democracy” can make every live better, at the end it’s the opposite that happens, like in: Ukraine and Syria. In China because of the strong grassroots support of the CPC and the socialism, waving “freedom” and “democracy” message won’t get any support; instead they play “anti-lockdown” card for this time in China.

 

Now the negative impact of easing China’s lockdown against “dynamic zero-COVID” is clear. The western countries are looking forward to seeing death on a large-scale from COVID in China, because only in this way can they make their own millions of deaths seem plausible. It's a pity they miscalculated, the online blog “Mars Phalanx ABC” argues, “China has a high vaccine penetration rate, virus variants have weakened toxicity, and Chinese people have a high awareness of mask protection. In addition, Chinese-made special medicines are in place. Currently, fever and cold medicines are being produced overtime. The situation that happened in the United States will not happen in China.” (12/22/22 “If there is nothing to be courteous about, there must be demons when things go wrong; who knows what kind of medicine is sold in the United States”  https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Zgj_GAa15ILsyCEE40iDrQ)

 

China has a very strong social support network organized by the CPC to the street level; they listen to the local residents’ appeals to give up holidays to work overtime taking care of patients and coordinating medicines to reach the patients, working tirelessly and sacrificing everything for the people. Many of them have been infected and continue working despite their own fevers.  

 

Many pharmaceutical chains and community clinics are giving away free ibuprofen for those who need it. “Recently, ibuprofen has become a hot commodity. Just when everyone was looking for medicines everywhere, Wu Jing, general manager of Ningxia Tongren Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd., distributed 50,000 ibuprofen tablets from the company's inventory to Huinong District, Shizuishan, Ningxia, for free. The kindness to  the masses warmed the whole city.” (12/22/22 China Daily “50,000 tablets of ibuprofen are given away for free! This pharmacy is so heartwarming” https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/763fjELqyb1UBts684-zqA).

 

China has built a daily-basis mechanism aiming to mobilize resources for treating severe cases to where they are most needed. As of December 25, the total number of ICU beds in China was 181,000, that is, 12.8 for 100,000 people, Jiao Yahui, an official from the China National Health Commission said: “In provinces experiencing the peak of intensive care treatment of severe cases, ICU bed resources are close to the critical value, Jiao noted.”

 

“In a bid to receive more cases, severe patients in emergency rooms should be given medical treatment within 24 hours. At the same time, to prevent more severe cases, community health centers have been counting seniors with underlying problems and classifying them in different risk groups,” according to Jiao.

 

“Meanwhile, hospitals at or above secondary level and all grassroots medical institutions should open as many fever clinics or consultation rooms as possible. As of December 25, more than 16,000 fever clinics in second-level hospitals and above, and more than 41,000 fever clinics and consultation rooms in community-level health institutions, had been set up,” according to Jiao. (12/27/22 Global Times “China releases new measures to prepare for risks from downgrading move” https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202212/1282774.shtml)

 

When the challenge comes, it’s also the testing time for humanity; and most believe China will overcome the latest challenges.

 

 

About Lee Siu Hin

Lee Siu Hin, a Chinese-American immigrant activist from Los Angeles, CA, is the founder and national coordinator of the China-U.S. Solidarity Network (CUSN) and the National Immigrant Solidarity Network (NISN). He is a long-time community, labor, antiwar and immigrant rights activist for grassroots struggle. He's also a long-time Pacifica Radio KPFK Los Angeles unpaid reporter and producer and war correspondent who has worked in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.

 

NISN is a grassroots-based national immigrant activist network, and CUSN is a network of academic and community activists in both countries committed to building a China-U.S. grassroots activist dialogue.

 

Lee holds a Masters of Public Administration (MPA) and a Masters of Engineering (Aerospace) from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, located in Pomona, CA.

 

He is currently working on community medical big data technology and a COVID-19 AI medical analytic platform for the inner-city community and the global south and travels frequently between China and U.S.

 

His latest book “Capitalism on a Ventilator” was co-published with Sara Flounders in September 2020; the Chinese edition was released in January 2022. He contributed to “Sanctions: a wrecking ball in a global economy” published in December 2022 and produced the documentary “Vaccine and Sanctions” in December 2022.

 

 

 

National Immigrant Solidarity Network http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org