During a White House press briefing on Monday, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby was asked why the Biden administration had not responded more strongly in support of the ongoing people's protests in China against that country's authoritarian regime.
Kirby said, "We're watching this closely as you might expect, we would. And again, we continue to stand up and support the right of peaceful protest. And I think we're gonna watch this closely and we'll see where things go."
Kirby had been asked about a statement he issued earlier in the day that did not have "any explicit calls for China to stop detaining, and harming protesters and journalists."
Kirby reiterated "The White House supports the right of peaceful protest," when asked by various journalists for further details on Biden's position towards China.
When asked for Biden’s reaction, Kirby said, "the President’s not going to speak for protestors around the world. They’re speaking for themselves.
Fox News' Peter Doocy asked why was it the White House's line that "Everybody has the right to peacefully protest" and not "The US thinks it's bad to lock people up in their houses to stop COVID'?"
Kirby answered, "We've made it clear that a lockdown is not a policy that we're going to support here."
Kirby's comments echoed a statement released by the White House on Monday afternoon.
"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 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 its attempt to reach "zero-Covid," communist China resorted to tyrannical and authoritarian measures, locking down citizens and instituting brutal restrictions on movement, resulting in citizens rising up in protest resulting in rising tensions between the CCP and its people.
Over the weekend demonstrations erupted in at least seven cities, including Shanghai, Nanjing, and Guangzhou, with protestors gathered and shouting in mandarin "take down the CCP!" and "take down Xi Jinping!"
Under China's "zero-COVID" policy, those who tests positive for the virus anywhere in China must be separated from all non-infected people, including family members, with no exceptions. This includes isolating children from their parents if they test positive and parents or guardians don't. Vaccine passports and licenses to allow movement throughout the city were also reportedly being checked by hazmat-suited authorities.
Many of the recent protests were spurred by the deaths of at least 12 people in a Urumqi apartment building fire. The residence, located in the Xinjiang region of the country, was sealed shut by CCP officials to stop the spread of Covid. The victims were burned alive.
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