(MENAFN-Colombo Gazette)
By Frederik Kelter
A few months ago, a box was left outside the door of Yu Ting Xu, 34, in Beijing. Inside, there is an electronic tracking bracelet and a request for you to wear the bracelet at all times as part of opposing combat. to COVID-19 in your residential neighborhood.
As he tells his story on a video call, Yu stirs in the background. When he returns to his screen, he holds the bracelet, which looks like a smartwatch but has a smooth white plastic surface instead of a screen.
“I put it on,” he said.
“I accepted lockdowns, forced COVID-19 testing, and fitness codes, but this feels like surveillance for the sake of surveillance. “
The bracelet was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Yu, who is among a growing number of citizens involved in motivating the widespread use of COVID-19-related technology by Chinese authorities.
“I’m concerned that the COVID-19 strategy is starting to get the Chinese under control so they don’t fight COVID-19,” he told Al Jazeera.
Just days before Yu won the bracelet, thousands of citizens in central China had taken to social media to protest outside a bank in Zhengzhou.
Many have been unable to access their bank deposits at the city’s Yu Zhou Xin Min Sheng village bank since April, with the bank claiming the challenge due to “system upgrades. “
Tired of months of apologies, depositors planned to protest outside the bank’s headquarters. But the day before, thousands of depositors suddenly saw their smartphones buzz and the fitness codes on their mandatory COVID-19 apps changed from green to red.
Color changes usually occur when the registrant has visited a domain infected with COVID-19 or has been flagged as a close contact with someone with the virus, and this means that the person will have to quarantine immediately.
The codes raised eyebrows.
There had been no COVID-19 outbreaks in the province, and the fitness codes of the circle of relatives who accompanied the many droppers to the protest remained green.
Beijing has said technologies such as the app and wristband are central to its 0 COVID strategy and its commitment to eliminating the virus, but red fitness codes in Zhengzhou and electronic wristbands in Beijing have helped raise skepticism about the government’s motives.
When the fitness code formula was implemented in early 2020, rights groups, and Human Rights Watch, warned that such virtual teams risked violating the human rights of any Chinese citizen with a smartphone.
In the first two years of its operation, those early warnings were largely drowned out by thunderous applause for the obvious good fortune of the zero-COVID policy. While many Western countries stumbled from one chaotic nationwide lockdown to another, the Chinese government was able to keep China’s COVID-19-free as much as possible through virtual devices of targeted lockdowns to prevent other inflamed or potentially inflamed people from spreading the virus.
Today, however, the roles are largely reversed.
While most of the world has used vaccination as a way out of coronavirus restrictions, China is stuck in a cycle of relentless lockdowns in a relentless quest to eliminate any and all COVID-19 outbreaks. Despite the wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines and the related decline in mortality rates, Beijing’s zero-COVID policy remains firmly in position with no end in sight.
The Chinese government defends the policy as a well-intentioned strategy for the people.
But prolonged lockdowns in cities like Shanghai have led to food shortages, separations from family circles and even the killing of pets from patients sent to quarantine. In mid-September, outrage erupted when a bus carrying others to a COVID-19 quarantine center crashed. , killing 27 passengers.
The twist of fate directly fueled the ongoing discussion in Chinese society about the cumulative prices of the government’s coronavirus policy.
“It’s the government’s 0 COVID strategy that’s killing us, COVID-19,” one Weibo user said after the crash.
His post was temporarily deleted by censors.
On Thursday night, two protest banners were hung over a Beijing flyover wondering about coronavirus controls and, in a move even more, Xi’s leadership.
Social media posts showed plumes of smoke rising in the air, but in both the virtual and real worlds, all evidence of the event was temporarily removed.
Han Wu*, 37, from the southern city of Guangzhou, among many Chinese Weibo users who expressed outrage over the Zhengzhou incident. Like Yu in Beijing, he also believes the government has gone too far in its pursuit of 0 COVID.
Han was forced to leave his home and move to one of the government’s quarantine centers for 14 days after testing positive for COVID-19 in late June.
“When I returned to my apartment, I could see that the door had been forced and that my belongings were scattered all over the place,” he told Al Jazeera, before turning on his phone’s camera to show marks and cuts outside. his door as proof of the break-in.
Later, Han learned from the local government that they had entered his apartment to disinfect the rooms and make sure no one else lived there. These were mandatory precautions, he said.
“I contain COVID-19 infections, but not government thefts and privacy violations,” he said.
Lin Pu is a specialist in virtual authoritarianism and Chinese influence at Tulane University in the United States.
He explains that it was once so-called terrorists, separatists, criminals and political activists who felt the capacity for oppression of the Chinese authorities, but the 0 COVID policy had exposed the most apolitical middle class to the strong arm of government.
He says discontent can spur further abuses of the system.
“It is entirely conceivable that the virtual equipment that was first used for COVID control will increasingly be used for social control if dissatisfaction continues to rise,” Lin said.
“In turn, this can create a feedback loop where dissatisfaction with the COVID strategy triggers the government to use virtual teams to make certain social networks that create more dissatisfaction. “
Anger over COVID-related policies comes at a time when the need for stability is paramount for China’s ruling party.
The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is scheduled to begin on October 16 and President Xi Jinping is expected to win an unprecedented third term, making him the party’s longest-serving leader since Mao Zedong.
The congresses are among the most important political events in China and are held only once every five years.
“China faces a series of complex and demanding situations at a time when the CCP and Xi Jinping want China to look filthy rich and harmonious,” said Christina Chen, China policy expert at Taiwanese think tank INDSR.
The COVID-zero strategy is also hurting the economy, with the slowest expansion in decades, youth unemployment at a record 20% and a distorted housing market where thousands refuse to pay mortgages on incomplete homes, while a decades-long construction frenzy has left more than 50 million homes unoccupied.
“China will need to appear stable, and political projects related to its presidency, such as the 0 COVID strategy, will need to look like undeniable successes to legitimize it for a third term,” Chen added.
In the run-up to the congress, COVID cases are expanding and new variants have been discovered. Although no deaths have been reported since April, it continues to underscore its commitment to “zero COVID,” regardless of public resentment over the severe restrictions. and normal tests.
Back in Beijing, Yu admits that the fact has made her more suspicious of the authorities.
“I’m a revolutionary,” she said, finally with her hands around the electronic tracking bracelet in her palm.
“I just don’t need to be watched and exploited. “
When asked what she would do if she was forced to wear the bracelet, she stands up and pushes her chair back.
“I’ll show you. “
Take a few steps to an open window in the back of the room and throw the bracelet into the night.
* The names of Yu Ting Xu and Han Wu have been replaced by their identity.
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