As protests erupt in China, the world is watching President Xi’s response

Editorial: The Chinese state appears to have drastically underestimated the growing discontent around the zero-Covid approach

For Xi, the ‘zero Covid’ approach has come to reflect his rule – and the social controls and authoritarian bureaucracy machine he can wield – like no other policy (AFP via Getty)

The public anger on display during protests in Shanghai and other cities over the past week is on a level rarely seen in China in recent years. The chanting of slogans such as “Xi Jinping, step down, Communist Party, step down” is rarer still.

When the Chinese state under President Xi introduced its strict “zero Covid” plan to try to control Covid-19 after the virus emerged in the country almost three years ago, it is likely that few citizens imagined these measures would still be in place now, with record numbers of cases having been announced during the past few days.

The protests in Shanghai, along with demonstrations at universities in Beijing and Nanjing, are the latest signs that the frustration engendered by the Covid rules is coming to a head. One of the catalysts was a fire in a tower block in the city of Urumqi in Xinjiang, which was followed by protests in which residents blamed the lockdown restrictions for the deaths of 10 people in the blaze. Officials have denied that Covid restrictions caused the deaths, but the authorities in Urumqi have pledged to “restore order” by phasing out the restrictions.