The White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “zero-COVID” strategy is unrealistic amid the largest protests across China in decades.
Thousands of demonstrators came out in Shanghai, Beijing, Urumqi, Wuhan, Chengdu, and other major Chinese cities over CCP-mandated lockdowns, mandatory COVID-19 tests, mask orders, and other rules. The CCP officially has pursued a “zero-COVID” policy for months and has shown no signs of stopping.
In some areas, protesters chanted: “Xi Jinping! Step down! CCP! Step down!” Police in Shanghai, Beijing, and other major cities were called in to break up the demonstrations.
“I think it’s going to be very, very difficult for China to be able to contain this through their zero-COVID strategy,” Jha, who was a Newsmax contributor before he was named to his White House position, told ABC News on Sunday in response to the unprecedented protests in China. “We don’t think that’s realistic, certainly not realistic for the American people,” he added.
Jha then claimed that vaccinations “particularly for the elderly” are the “path out of this virus.” He continued, “Lockdown and zero-COVID is going to be very difficult to sustain.”
In the early hours of Monday in Beijing, two groups of protesters totaling at least 1,000 people were gathered along the Chinese capital’s 3rd Ring Road near the Liangma River, refusing to disperse, according to the Reuters news agency.
“We don’t want masks, we want freedom. We don’t want COVID tests, we want freedom,” one of the groups chanted.
On Saturday, a vigil in Shanghai for victims of the apartment fire turned into a protest against COVID curbs, with the crowd chanting calls for lockdowns to be lifted.
“Down with the Chinese Communist Party,” one large group chanted in the early hours of Sunday, according to witnesses and videos posted on social media, in a rare public protest against the CCP.
