It may well have lit the fuse of a larger revolution that leads to freedom. Western governments can help the protesters.
By: Jianli Yang & Bradley Thayer | Dec. 1, 2022
‘Zero Covid” policy and the fire resulting in deaths in an apartment building in Urumqi have led to protests in Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and many other cities in China. Protesters are calling for the Chinese Communist Party to end its rule and for Xi Jinping to terminate his as well. The demonstrations, which happened almost at the same time in countless cities and universities, are the first nationwide expressions of discontent and political demands that China has seen since the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. The current protests are historical events that will have lasting implications for China, Xi, and the Chinese Communist Party. Protesters held blank sheets of paper as symbols of protest against pervasive censorship and what one of us, Jianli Yang, has termed the “every-moment-autocracy” of Xi’s rule. The protests have been dubbed the “blank-page revolution.” Here we consider seven of its major implications for China and the world.
First, the Chinese people have demanded freedom. They have demonstrated their contempt for the CCP and Xi’s rule. The strength with which they have pressed their demands might have surprised many in the West. In recent years, many people have bought into CCP propaganda, mistakenly believing that the Chinese people support the Communist Party and Xi. In January 2022, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry smugly cited a poll that the… [Continue Reading]
Source: https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/12/why-chinas-blank-page-revolution-matters/