As China eases Corona restrictions, its grip on protesters is tightening | Abroad

The Chinese authorities have imposed the highest level of control over the “emergency response”, according to the instructions issued by the authorities to the Chinese media regarding China Digital Times have been published. This site operates externally.

Among other things, the guidelines require all platforms to “clean up” products that circumvent the Chinese firewall. This concerns, for example, VPN connections: encrypted connections that, among other things, ensure that your site is not visible. Apps that circumvent online censorship should be removed from app stores and search engine results related to this topic should be removed. Every day before noon, the platforms must also submit their feedback for the past 24 hours.

In addition to extensive censorship, China uses mobile data to track residents protesting Beijing’s strict restrictions. those reportsCNNBased on a recording of a phone conversation between a protester and the police.

Last week, unprecedented protests broke out in China against the ‘elimination policy’ that China continues to stubbornly uphold. Therefore, the epidemic, which lasted nearly three years, still has dire consequences for daily life in China, where very strict measures against Corona are used to contain the outbreak.

The protests demanding more freedom followed a deadly fire in Urumqi. A strict lockdown in the city would have made the rescue operation much more difficult for residents.

a look. Violent protests in China began in Urumqi after ten people were killed in an apartment fire

The far-reaching and widely criticized Corona measures coincide with the slowdown in the growth of the Chinese economy, which has also caused frustration. Some protesters have also called for more (political) freedom, and have criticized Xi Jinping’s authoritarian rule.

The demonstrations are strictly controlled, but many residents have gained access to non-Chinese news and social media apps that are blocked in China via VPN connections. The leaked instructions for tackling such methods of circumventing censorship come from China’s “Cyberspace” service, declaring “Internet emergency response level one, the highest level of content management”.

Many cities in China have their own cities today More relaxing halo measures After major protests against this policy. For example, residents of some places no longer have to test themselves daily and, if infected, can go into home isolation instead of private government isolation centres, according to the state media report. It is expected that the measures will be implemented at the national level in the coming days.

Moreover, a negative test result is no longer mandatory for metro commuters in Chengdu and Tianjin. Beijing will cancel this measure on Monday. Some supermarkets in the capital no longer require a negative test from their customers. In one district, the message was sent to the entire population that those without “social activities”, such as the elderly and very young children, no longer need to be tested regularly. Mitigation is also happening in other cities.

a look. Chinese workers fled strict coronavirus measures last month at Foxconn’s Chenghu factory – the world’s largest iPhone factory.