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The Biden administration offered support on Monday for peaceful protesters in China who spilled into the streets over the weekend to demonstrate against Beijing’s “zero COVID” strategy for containing the deadly pandemic.
Public anger and isolated protests over Chinese President Xi Jinping’s COVID policies have been building for months amid stories circulating online and in social media of cases where, because of city-wide lockdowns, people have died for lack of medical care and pregnant women have miscarried babies. Shortages of food have also been highlighted.
When a fire broke out in a residential apartment building on Nov. 24, in the city of Urumqi, killing 10 people, local authorities disputed the deaths had anything to do with a severe 100-day lockdown in Urumqi. But many Chinese social media users blamed Beijing’s COVID policies anyway and demonstrations in Urumqi spread to cities across China including Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan.
At the White House, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declared the administration’s support for the protesters.
“Our message to peaceful protesters around the world is the same and consistent: People should be allowed the right to assemble and peacefully protest policies or laws or dictates that they take issue with,” Kirby said.
Kirby stressed that lockdowns and a “zero COVID” is not a policy that the U.S. is pursuing.
The administration’s expressions of support for the protesters come as President Joe Biden is trying to ease tensions with Beijing and could complicate the dialogue between the two nations.
Biden and Xi met two weeks ago at the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, where they discussed topics such as Taiwan, North Korea and the war in Ukraine. The two leaders agreed that senior aides would continue talks on climate change, debt relief and other issues.
But the protests and the U.S.’s support for the demonstrators could make things awkward.
“There has been no change in our desire to continue to see these channels of communication stay open,” Kirby told reporters.
