In Shanghai, the lockdown is becoming even stricter in some places, despite the falling number of infections. Chinese lawyers warn of the constitution. The party is threatening consequences.
There is good news from Shanghai: In China’s largest city, which has been in strict lockdown for six weeks, the number of people infected with corona has been falling continuously since the end of April. On Wednesday, the authorities reported fewer than 1,500 new cases, after at times tens of thousands a day. More than 60 percent of the approximately 25 million inhabitants are allowed according to Chinese state media now leave their apartment again and move at least within a certain radius.
But alongside the positive trend, there are disturbing reports. In social networks, Shanghainese describe that in their residential buildings not only every single infected person is being transported to the notorious mass quarantine camps, but also neighbors, sometimes from other floors. Those who come to the camps sometimes have to hand in their house keys so that Covid helpers can disinfect the apartment. If you don’t do this, according to photos and videos, disinfection teams will break open the door or climb through the window.
Apparently, the authorities in Shanghai want to stop the remaining chains of infection at practically any cost. The tightened measures follow a meeting of the Communist Party’s top body. The Standing Committee of the Politburo announced via state media last Thursday that it would continue, if not tighten, its strict zero-Covid policy.
Xi calls for obedience
The committee, headed by state and party leader Xi Jinping, called for according to the Xinhua News Agency the party committees and governments at all levels and “all sectors of society” to obedience in terms of “ideology, politics and measures”. This means that everything else is subordinated to the zero-Covid policy, also rhetorically. In March, Xi called for a balance to be found between fighting the pandemic and socio-economic development.
However, this was not reflected in reality, and now there was only one of them English-language article from Xinhua the speech. Rather, the Standing Committee now forbids any criticism of its Covid strategy. “We will firmly oppose all words and actions that distort, doubt and deny our epidemic prevention policy,” Xinhua wrote.
Nevertheless, there are still courageous critics in China. Three days after the committee meeting, a legal opinion of the Shanghai measures by the well-known constitutional lawyer Tong Zhiwei, who claims to have consulted with more than twenty colleagues. Tong comes to the conclusion that the forced transport of people to quarantine camps is illegal. The state of emergency claimed by local authorities does not exist; According to the constitution, this would have to be proclaimed by the Standing Committee or by the central government.
Influencer sees “submission” in the rest of the regime
According to Tong, there is no legal basis for some Shanghainese handing over their apartment keys to the authorities. “The homes of citizens of the People’s Republic of China are inviolable,” he quotes Article 39 of the constitution. In general, pandemic prevention must be weighed against protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens. Tong concludes by asking that his assessment be studied carefully.
Tong’s contribution was widely distributed on the Chinese Internet – and deleted by the censors just as vigorously. Tong’s account was suspended on the Twitter-like platform Weibo, where he has over 450,000 followers. According to a screenshot on the omnipresent social network WeChat, Tong distanced himself from his assessment: Please do not spread it further. If this message actually comes from Tong, he is likely to have published it under pressure from the authorities.
As is well known, China’s Internet is already heavily censored, but in recent weeks the air for open critics like Tong has become even thinner. Also the online appearances some economists and market analysts have disappeared, obviously because they criticized or simply calculated the economic consequences of the lockdowns in Shanghai and many other cities. Even the European Chamber of Commerce in China, which regularly publishes member surveys on the business climate, complained to the NZZ about the increased deletion of its posts in social networks.
The case of Wang Sicong, known as “China’s richest son” because his father is the head of the Wanda Group conglomerate, caused particularly high waves. Wang first questioned the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine for Covid on his Weibo and WeChat accounts, then announced he would refuse mandatory Covid testing. In many places in China, people have had to take a test every two or three days or even daily for months – Wang sees this as forced submission. His social media accounts have been deleted.
Social media show user location
Practically all social networks have also tightened the rules for their users in recent weeks. The standard is now that the user’s location is visible next to each public post, based on the IP address of the smartphone or laptop. The feature cannot be turned off, and VPN software that can be used to spoof the IP address is illegal in China.
The platforms justified the new function, among other things, by wanting to fight rumors. However, according to screenshots, WeChat was also working to ensure that posts from Shanghai are only visible to other users from Shanghai. This would make it much more difficult for the Chinese to get an idea of the chaotic lockdown there. Under the pretext of fighting rumors, the authorities in Shanghai repeatedly remove videos that document the lack of food or the inhumane conditions in the quarantine camps.