Thousands of Chinese surprise the world for a week. For the first time in decades, they took to the streets en masse in major cities – and openly demanded the resignation of the government under President Xi Jinping (69). Above all, with his rock-solid zero-Covid policy, he has turned the billions of people against him.
Ai Weiwei (65), world artist and critic of the regime, is not very optimistic about the chances of the uprising: “The failure of the protests is inevitable,” he told the Sunday newspaper Blick. The man, dubbed the ‘social conscience of China’, lives in exile in Portugal with his Chinese wife and child. He answers SonntagsBlick’s questions in writing.
There is a lack of leaders
Ai Weiwei doubts the resistance movement’s success because it lacks a political agenda and leaders. The protests made public opinion in China clear. “But what interests the West is whether this will lead to regime change. My answer: You have to say goodbye to this idea, because the resistance in China is due to people’s dissatisfaction with society and not their dissatisfaction with the system.”
According to Ai, the education and information the Chinese are getting today offers no basis for questioning or even challenging the regime. This kind of resistance will not lead to real social change.
People are returning to normal life
“Tear gas, bullets, batons, prisons and courts controlled by the regime have the final say on the protests.” Ai continued: “In other words, protests are useless, even if they end in bloodshed, as is currently the case in Iran. These examples show everyone that autocratic regimes cannot be changed by protests.”
Ai is convinced that the people have now returned to their normal lives. That means growing mistrust of politicians, but also heavy financial losses and stricter control of the Chinese by the authorities.
According to Ai, what remains is a lot of dissatisfaction among the population. The Chinese government, for its part, continues to distrust its own people, as well as science, especially medicine.
Some measures are likely to be scaled back
Nevertheless, throughout the week there was much to indicate that the Communist Party would scale back at least some of its rigid Covid measures. But how will the Corona policy proceed if it causes the social unrest it is intended to prevent?
Ai Weiwei: “The party is going to withdraw the Covid restrictions, but that is not directly attributable to the protests.” Rather, the failure of the control policy based on the motto “Zero Covid” is responsible for this.
“The easing of measures will now calm most of the public anger,” Ai said. However, history will remember the mistakes of the regime, the damage caused by government measures that can hardly be quantified.
Is Xi Jinping undermining his authority?
Observers around the world are now wondering whether Xi Jinping could undermine his authority by watering down or reversing official Covid policies. So far, the head of state and party leader has based his legitimacy and that of the party on his ability to contain the virus better than other countries – at least better than his geopolitical rivals in the West.
“The authority of China’s leaders does not depend on public statements because there is no platform for public statements in Chinese society,” said Ai Weiwei. In his home country, too, there is no framework for an academic assessment of government action. Therefore, the authority of the Chinese leadership cannot be undermined.
Switzerland does not comment
Meanwhile, Western governments are silent about what is happening in the Middle Kingdom. Switzerland is also careful not to comment on the protests. Ai Weiwei finds clear words for this: “Switzerland was and is associated with autocratic regimes. She took advantage of them and continues to benefit from them. Switzerland is a microcosm for the hypocritical political attitude in Europe and all other developed countries in the world.”
Everyone knows that Switzerland tries to maximize profits by adopting a certain neutral attitude. There’s no doubt about that. Ai Weiwei: «The so-called neutrality actually means that you side with the strong and participate in the oppression of the weak!»