Senator Marco Rubio has stated that the “weak” rejection of CCP’s “zero COVID” policy is “nothing short of cowardice.”
State Department Spokesperson Antony Blinken strongly refuted Republican claims that the Biden administration’s response to protests against China’s “zero COVID” policy had been “weak” and “cowardly” by saying on Sunday that the government ultimately backed the protestors.
Blinken was asked by Jake Tapper of CNN’s “State of the Union” if the administration supports the demonstrations, to which Blinken replied, “Of course we do.”
RED FLASHING BLINDS “People in China, Iran, and everywhere else have the right to express their unhappiness by nonviolent means, and we stand in solidarity with them.
As a result of widespread repression, we feel compelled to hold a demonstration. We take a stand and do all our power to destroy the other side.”
As Blinken continued, “in the instance of Iran,” we have “pushed exceedingly hard to impose sanctions on those guilty for the crackdown on mostly Iranian women who have been leading these marches valiantly since the assassination of Mahsa Amini.” This involves providing the Iranian people with how to maintain contact with one another and the outside world. We have spoken out against the repression of protestors everywhere, but notably in China.
Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, released a joint statement last month criticizing the Biden administration in the wake of the “historic mass demonstrations against General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)” at the end of last month.
“Weak criticism of the CCP’s zero-Covid policy and a lack of resistance to General Secretary Xi’s authoritarian grab have shown the Biden administration’s limitations. Only weeks after Biden and Xi slapped hands in Bali, this timing demonstrates that neither Biden nor his administration is willing to take on the CCP or show compassion for the Chinese people.” This is what the Republican representative said.
Blinken diverted the conversation from themselves and onto the demonstrators in both countries who were “trying to realize their purposes,” emphasizing that “this is not about us.” After that, the reporter asked Blinken if he planned to bring up the protesters at his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the beginning of 2023.
In his speech, Blinken said that no American administration or president would remain silent on the issue of human rights and fundamental civil freedoms because they are so vital to the American identity. Vice President Joe Biden brought up this topic at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “It is crucial to keep lines of communication open with China. We need to ensure the president and his advisers had a good conversation in which no important points were lost in translation.”
Twenty cities around China have seen an increase in protests against the Chinese government’s “zero-COVID” policy in the past week. A fire that killed ten people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang region, appears to have been a catalyst for many demonstrators who took to the streets and clashed with police a little over a week ago.
Residents of downtown Shanghai came together over the weekend to light candles in honor of those who perished in the devastating blaze. Over a thousand people gathered in the square around lunchtime, with many of them demanding President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party of China step down from their positions.
Xi and the CLC have never been subjected to such overt political sloganeering. Protesters at Tiananmen Square in 1989 wanted democratic reforms, not a complete replacement of government.
Forty-two senators, including both major parties, have written to Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang to voice their displeasure with the disruption. They said “great harm” would come to the U.S.-China relationship if demonstrators turned to violence.
In a recent letter to the Chinese Communist Party, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan of Arizona and Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon urged the party to avoid violence against individuals calling for greater freedom in China.
Apparently, a high-ranking official in Beijing has stated that the virus is on the wane, prompting the government to consider relaxing the COVID limitations. Beijing is reportedly preparing a new policy that would mandate widespread testing and home quarantines for everybody who has had contact with an infected individual.
After 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was severely beaten by the country’s morality police and eventually died in the hospital, there were large demonstrations in Iran in the middle of the month. Amini was detained by authorities because she was not wearing modest clothing acceptable to her faith (headscarf).
Protests began in the nation’s capital and swiftly spread to over 140 more cities and villages, becoming one of the gravest dangers to the system since its inception in the revolution of 1979. A general claims that more than 300 protesters have been killed in Iran. At least 450 protestors and 60 security officials, according to U.S.-based Iranian human rights activists. Over 18,000 individuals, according to the group, have been detained.