China pledges crackdown on disrupters during Covid-19 infection surge
- Beijing’s security chiefs warn of zero tolerance for anyone using the pandemic ‘to infiltrate, sabotage and disrupt social order’
- The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission also hailed zero-Covid policy and its recent abandonment as ‘totally correct’
“[We] must safeguard national security and social stability, and resolutely deal according to the law with behaviours that use the pandemic to infiltrate, sabotage, make rumours to start troubles and disrupt social order,” read a minute from Thursday’s meeting of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
China puts zero Covid behind it with ‘new phase’ of living with the virus
It was also “totally correct” to make the recent adjustments to the Covid-19 prevention policies, based on new developments, they said.
The Xinhua report said the minute went on to say that China’s security apparatus should also focus on “defending the people’s interests” regarding Covid-19 and try to solve their problems.
The commission oversees all security-related departments, including polices forces, prosecutors, judges, spying agencies and prison systems.
China has moved swiftly in recent weeks to almost fully open up its entire economy from the restrictive zero-Covid approach, at the same time as a spike in infections across the country, from main cities to rural areas.
The relaxation of restrictions seemed to speed up after a series of rare protests erupted in a handful of cities across a weekend in late November, which coincided with strong downward economic pressures.
While Beijing appears to have accommodated the protesters – described by President Xi Jinping as “mainly frustrated students”, in a conversation with European Council President Charles Michel – legal proceedings are understood to be under way to punish a small number of participants.
Following Xi’s acknowledgement of the protests, Beijing’s ambassador to Paris Lu Shaye blamed “foreign forces” for the disturbances, without elaborating on his claims.
Diplomat blames ‘foreign forces’ for boosting China’s Covid-19 protests
Lu also acknowledged there were genuine frustrations at local governments’ implementation of the Covid-19 policies laid down by Beijing.
As China grapples with rising infections as well as a lack of medicines and thinly stretched medical resources, police in many cities have pledged to go after people who stock and sell Covid-related drugs for high prices.
Police in Suzhou said on Wednesday they had detained a man for disrupting public order, after he made online claims that he had caught two different Covid-19 variants within five days.
