The protests in China may change the way Xi Jinping runs the country, says Minxin Pei
The Chinese-American academic believes they will influence government policy for years
THE SUDDEN eruption of anti-lockdown protests across China in the past week caught its leaders—and the world—by surprise. The first demonstrations took place in Xinjiang and Shanghai and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has crushed countless mass protests in the past with ruthless efficiency, scrambled to respond.
Chinese authorities have now adopted a mixed approach to curb the demonstrations. It combines an increased police presence and intimidation of protesters with promises of more refined implementation of the government’s “zero-covid” policy—which remains unchanged. Whatever the immediate outcomes of the protests, which now appear to be over, they will probably influence policy for the remainder of President Xi Jinping’s time in power.
This article appeared in the By Invitation section of the print edition under the headline "The protests in China may change the way Xi Jinping runs the country, says Minxin Pei"
From the December 3rd 2022 edition
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