The White House steered away from speaking out against China’s response to protesters on Monday, saying it supported anyone’s right to peacefully protest – but falling far short of offering solidarity with demonstrators demanding the removal of President Xi Jinping.
Earlier Chinese police tightened security at the sites of weekend protests in Shanghai and Beijing.
Crowds had gathered in anger over China’s zero-Covid policies, and in some cases demanded the removal of Xi.
‘We want freedom,’ has become their rallying cry.
While President Joe Biden has recently spoken up enthusiastically in favor of protests in Iran, this time officials said he had no plan to comment on China.
‘The president’s not gonna speak for protesters around the world,’ said White House National Security Council official John Kirby when asked about Biden’s response to protesters freedom chants.
‘They’re speaking for themselves …
‘What we are doing is making it clear that we support the right of peaceful protest.’
White House spokesman John Kirby on Monday said the administration supported the right to peaceful protest, but avoided any more forceful endorsement of protests in China
Protesters in China have taken to holding blank pieces of paper, in a symbol of what they aren’t allowed to say – seen here in Beijing on Sunday amid ‘zero COVID’ protests
Epidemic-prevention workers in protective suits line leave a testing station as outbreaks of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue in Beijing. The country’s policy of using lockdowns to contain outbreaks has triggered a wave of demonstrations and anger
The cautious approach has angered Republican lawmakers who believe the Biden administration should take a tougher stance.
However, it mirrors previous approaches to demonstrations in China, where authorities have been keen to portray legitimate grievances as the result of foreign interference.
In the meantime, the U.S. embassy in Beijing warned Americans in China to be prepared for quarantines, transport disruptions and lockdowns.
In a message on Monday, it told citizens that the ambassador and his team had frequently raised concerns with the authorities.
‘We encourage all U.S. citizens to keep a 14-day supply of medications, bottled water, and food for yourself and any members of your household,’ it said.
At the White House, for his part, Kirby steered carefully around China’s zero COVID policy.
‘We’ve made it clear …that a lockdown is not a policy that we’re going to support here,’ he said.
‘We’ve come a long way over these last three years … in terms of treating COVID and preventing COVID.
‘So we’ve said you know, a lockdown is not a policy that we support here.
‘But obviously there are people in China that that have have concerns about that, and they’re protesting that and we believe they should be able to do that peacefully.’
President Joe Biden has recently expressed hope that protesters in Iran would soon find freedom, but has steered clear of any similar sentiment when it comes to demonstrators in China urging the removal of Xi Jinping (right) from power
It followed a similar statement issued by the White House in which it expressed support for the principle of peaceful protest and reservations about a ‘zero COVID’ policy.
That was not enough for China hawks in the Republican Party.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, likely to be the next House speaker, tweeted: ‘The Chinese Communist Party’s lockdowns have imprisoned people against their will—many have died.
‘As Chinese citizens bravely protest, Joe Biden and the corporate class shrug. Our Select Committee on China will do what Biden refuses—finally reckon with the pariah that is the [Chinese Communist Party.’
Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, one of the 15 members of the House China Task Force, told DailyMail.com: ‘The White House statement Monday reiterated ‘everyone has the right to protest’, but didn’t go far enough in condemning the CCP, according to Republican lawmakers.
‘The Biden Administration isn’t doing enough to call out the Chinese Communist Party for their overt atrocities and this isn’t just about COVID policies,’ Waltz told DailyMail.com.
The Biden administration’s statement regarding anti-COVID lockdowns in China didn’t go far enough to condemn the CCP, Rep. Michael Waltz told DailyMail.com. Pictured: Protesters march at a rally in Beijing Monday against China’s ‘Zero COVID’ policies
Waltz said Biden’s response to the CCP ‘atrocities’ shows ‘weakness’ considering no action was taken against Beijing
‘Weakness is provocative and Biden can do more than simply issue a press statement to call out the repression taking place in many cities and factories across China that supply American corporations.’
Texas Senator Ted Cruz weighed in on Twitter, calling the statement ‘pitiful.’
‘At a potentially historic inflection point, Dems shill for the CCP,’ the GOP lawmaker added. ‘Pure weakness from the Biden administration. It’s almost as if Biden wishes he was driving a tank in Tiananmen Square…..’
Waltz is one of the most hawkish members of Congress when it comes to cracking down on China, even claiming that there is a ‘Cold War with the Chinese Communist Party.’ He was the first member of Congress to call for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics due to Beijing’s genocide of Chinese Uyghur populations.
China is imposing some of the world’s strictest COVID measures under a policy known as ‘Zero COVID’, which includes mass lockdowns, quarantines or isolations and widespread testing in areas where cases are reported.
This has led to tens of millions of people being forced to live under some kind of lockdown.
The White House National Security Council said:
‘We’ve said that zero COVID is not a policy we pursuing (sic) here in the United States,’ the NSC spokesperson wrote in their statement. ‘And as we’ve said, we think it’s going to be very difficult for the People’s Republic of China to be able to contain this virus through their zero COVID strategy.’
‘We’ve long said everyone has the right to peacefully protest, here in the United States and around the world,’ they wrote. This includes in the PRC.’
NSC claims it will be ‘ difficult for the People’s Republic of China to be able to contain this virus through their zero COVID strategy’ and instead continued to push vaccines and boosters. Pictured: Biden received the jab for the latest COVID-19 booster on October 25, 2022
The NSC statement said that U.S. efforts to contain and stop the spread of coronavirus are still focused on getting all Americans vaccinated and boosted – as well as keeping testing and treatment widely accessible.
‘For us, we are focused on what works and that means using the public health tools like: continuing to enhance vaccination rates, including boosters and making testing and treatment easily accessible,’ the spokesperson said.
Several major Chinese cities including Shanghai and the capital of Beijing have been rocked by thousands of protesters taking to the streets in recent days to protest the government’s ruthless ‘Zero COVID’ policy.
The demonstrations were sparked after ten people died in an apartment fire in the city of Urumqi, where residents were enduring their third month of total lockdown.
The protests have since broadened to include general anti-government sentiment, with stunning reports having emerged of citizens calling for President Xi Jinping to resign.
Thousands of protesters rose up over the weekend in opposition of Beijing’s ‘Zero COVID’ policies, which includes mass lockdowns, forced quarantines and isolations and widespread, required testing. Pictured – Demonstrators hold up white pieces of paper, some reading in several languages: ‘I am a white paper’
Chinese citizens in Beijing on Sunday, November 27 hold up pieces of paper against censorship and China’s strict zero COVID measures. Protesters took to the streets in multiple Chinese cities after a deadly apartment fire in Xinjiang province sparked a national outcry as many blamed COVID restrictions for the deaths
U.S. lawmakers are speaking out against the strict policies, as well as the CCP’s effort to shut down protests.
‘The people of China are standing up and demanding freedom, even knowing the major risk of doing so in their country,’ Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert tweeted.
‘People are born to be free, not oppressed by government regimes,’ she added along with an encouragement for the people: ‘Keep fighting for freedom!’
GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona tweeted on Monday morning: ‘China has had enough of the COVID tyranny. These types of draconian lockdowns are ineffective and crumble societies.’
‘The CCP has abused China’s people long enough. Covid has been an evil tool of oppression,’ far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote. ‘It started in Wuhan, it ends in Wuhan. I’m praying for these people.’
Researchers from Stanford University believe the government is trying to cover up the scale of demonstrations with porn-posting bot accounts that could scupper the spread of information on Twitter.
Social media searches performed in Chinese for names of cities where anti-lockdown protests have erupted revealed untold numbers of erotic posts published by Chinese bot accounts.
The CCP blocked Twitter in the country in 2009, but users can still access the platform via a VPN or website proxy service.
BBC journalist was beaten up and arrested ‘for his own good to stop him catching Covid’ while covering protests that have rocked China
A BBC journalist covering historic protests against President Xi Jinping‘s lockdown rules in China was arrested and beaten by police officers, with Chinese officials later making the bizarre claim that he was detained for his ‘own good’ in case he caught Covid from the crowd.
Shocking footage from the anti-government protests in Shanghai shows Edward Lawrence, a camera operator for the BBC’s China Bureau, being dragged away by Xi’s officers as he screams ‘call the consulate now’ to a friend.
Mr Lawrence was beaten and kicked by the police officers and held in custody for ‘several hours’ before being released, as Chinese officials sought to crack down on the media and protesters in the city.
The British journalist said today that at least one local was arrested after they tried to stop the police from beating him during his arrest.
Shanghai police officers tried to dismiss the arrest as being for Mr Lawrence’s ‘own good’, claiming that he was arrested ‘in case he caught Covid from the crowd’. The BBC dismissed the farfetched explanation as implausible.
Footage also shows the journalist helpless on the ground with three aggressive officers in hi-vis jackets standing over him and pulling his arms behind his back
The UK’s Business Secretary Grant Shapps today denounced the officers’ actions as ‘unacceptable’ and ‘concerning’. He told LBC radio: ‘Whatever else happens, freedom of the press should be sacrosanct.’
Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director of the human rights group the Henry Jackson Society in London, told the Mail: ‘This latest outrage shows the true face of the Chinese Communist Party’s regime in attacking all the values the West hold dear.
‘Media freedom is essential to our system and the Chinese crackdown against it needs the strongest of refutations from the UK Prime Minister. This is no time for him to go wobbly.’
China is facing its largest anti-government demonstrations since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, with protests erupting in at least seven cities over the country’s strict zero-Covid rules.
The catalyst for the protests was an apartment fire last week in the western city of Urumqi in which ten people died. Many speculated that Covid curbs in the city, parts of which had been under lockdown for 100 days, had hindered rescue and escape, which city officials denied.
The largest of the demonstrations has taken place in Shanghai – home to 26million residents – with many also boldly demanding that President Xi resign.
China’s foreign ministry today insisted the government’s ‘fight against Covid-19 will be successful’.