Following a weekend of protests in China over the country’s "Zero Covid" policy, the White House has released a statement that did not denounce the brutal crackdown on protestors by the Chinese Communist Party, and instead spoke on vaccinations and testing.
"We’ve said that zero COVID is not a policy we [sic] pursuing here in the United States. 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 set COVID strategy," the statement, posted to Twitter by CBS White House producer Kristin Brown, said.
"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.
"We’ve long said everyone has the right to peacefully protest, here in the United States and around the world. This includes in the PRC," it concluded.
In response to the statement, Twitter users noted Western leaders’ lack of opposition to China’s Zero Covid policy at its onset, calling the statement "weak" and "pathetic."
Protests were triggered across China by a deadly apartment fire in an Urumqi apartment building, where at least 10 people were killed. According to ABC News, it took over three hours for firefighters to put out the flames. Some said on social media that the city’s Covid restrictions prevented the firefighters from getting close enough to effectively fight the fire and rescue people, though CCP authorities have denied this.
As part of lockdown measures, the CCP has welded apartment doors shut, locking people inside apartment buildings in order to prevent them from breaking quarantine orders.
Numerous arrests have been made, with police clashing with protestors in Shanghai on Sunday night. One such arrest was that of BBC reporter Edward Lawrence, who was handcuffed and dragged away by CCP officers on Sunday. In the early hours of Monday, over 1,000 protestors gathered in Beijing, according to Reuters.
Protestors have been carrying blank white sheets of paper, which in protest of the country’s censorship laws. These protests are being referred to by some as the "White Paper Revolution.
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