In the face of the largest wave of protests in China in decades, the country’s political leadership has announced a strong crackdown on unrest. The background is the widespread resentment among the people about the government’s tough zero-Covid measures. The Communist Party’s Politics and Law Commission also blamed “hostile” elements for disrupting public order at a meeting on Tuesday, state media reported on Wednesday.
“It is necessary to solve conflicts and disputes in a timely manner and to help solve people’s practical difficulties,” the news agency said Xinhua in a message. “We must, by law, crack down on infiltration and sabotage by enemy forces.” “Criminal actions that disturb the social order” would also have to be pursued and general social stability effectively maintained.
The statement did not directly address the weekend’s protests against rigorous zero-Covid measures such as lockdowns, forced quarantines and mass testing. But saw the former editor-in-chief of the party newspaper Global Times, Hu Xijin, in the indirect message a “clear warning”: “The demonstrators must have understood it,” wrote the commentator loyal to the system on Twitter. “If they repeat these protests, the risks will increase sharply.”