Judy: Today beijing shut down parks and museums in the city, as the capital of China faces its largest outbreak of covid in 6 months. Authorities confirmed more than 28,000 cases yesterday, and the first official covid fatalities since may. Those numbers might seem — despite some recent adjustments, the Chinese government maintains the strictest covid policy in the world. And as Nick schifrin reports, lockdowns that restrict the movements of hundreds of millions of residents, are sparking rare public dissent. Nick: In the southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou today, beyond the closed cafes and the pliant people who submit to swabs, there is rage. Last week, residents of China's third largest city pulled down the barriers that for nearly a month have kept them locked down. They targeted the symbols of the state that restrict their freedom. And in a country that punishes protest, they confronted police, unafraid to fight or film.
Yaqiu Wang: They wanted their freedom. They want their rights. They feel it's so wrong to confine them in this situation. Nick: Yaqiu Wang is a senior researcher at human rights watch. She says Guangzhou residents are furious at lockdowns and testing requirements that have prevented them from working and even buying food. And the frustration is national. Yaqiu Wang: People understand if I go protests, I can be harassed by the police, I can be detained or worse, I could be imprisoned for years. It happened to so many people. And people understand that. But when you know the injustice is too much, you know, for too long, you just can't bear it. Nick: Beijing's enforcers maintain the world's strictest covid restrictions, and try to silence dissent — sometimes literally. The policeman's foot on the neck of a resident. Elsewhere, they manhandled and arrested a woman for not wearing a mask. And as families wail, police drag residents to a quarantine camp, where some have been forced to stay for months.
Yaqiu Wang: It has created so many human rights abuses in the past three years. People died because they couldn't access a hospital to have their family members treated. Nick: Earlier this month, a father in the northwest city of lanzhou tried to save his 3-year-old son from carbon monoxide poisoning. He was too late. The father later wrote they'd been under lockdown and building managers refused to help because he hadn't taken a covid test. "If my son had been able to go just a bit sooner to the hospital, they would have been able to save him." In beijing, the city's most populated district shuttered shops to allow residents to quarantine. >> If someone in my dorm went to quarantine, I understand that everyone in the dorm would have to quarantine. Nick: Last week, students stockpiled food. They phased out many steps in beijing last week. >> Those baby steps. Nick: This professor points out zero covid has depressed China's economic growth to its second lowest level in 46 years. Last month, worker at iPhone maker foxconn were so scared of appending lockdown, they scaled fences to escape.
Apple said that delayed shipments of the new iPhone 14. But Chinese officials fear lifting restrictions could lead to the deaths of more than 1 million people. Yanzhong huang: This worst case scenario, you know, where you have, you know, the upsurge of cases, right, overwhelming the health care system leading to mass die off. Nick: But are those estimates, that worst case scenario, is that realistic? Yanzhong huang: The leading public health experts, like Zhang wenhong, like China's Dr.
Fauci, basically telling people, you know, that this is not such a severe disease. Nick: And so do you believe that XI jinping's decision not to open up further is not a medical one, but a political one? Yanzhong huang: This policy, it's so closely tied to president XI himself, right? Abandoning it immediately would also potentially undermine his personal stature. Nick: XI jinping has rewarded party officials who enforced strict versions of zero covid. So even as beijing says it wants to minimize the economic impact, the message is clear — minimize covid. Yaqiu Wang: Beijing is saying that I still want zero-covid, but you should do it in a nicer way to the local government.
But still, ultimately, beijing wants zero-covid. And it's not a democracy. So they're not accountable to the people they are governing. So my leader told me to continue to institute zero covid policy and I am not accountable for my abuses. So the abuse is going to continue. Nick: And so too will the tension between the power and the people as long as beijing maintains zero covid. For "The pbs newshour," I'm Nick schifrin..
