Blinken Affirms Biden Admin’s Support for China’s Zero-COVID Protesters Amid Backlash

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers a speech during a visit at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, Romania, on Nov. 29, 2022. Vadim Ghirda/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed the Biden administration’s support for zero-COVID protesters in China on Dec. 4 amid criticism that its response has been weak.

“Of course we do,” Blinken told CNN’s Jake Tapper when asked whether the administration supports the protesters. “We support the right for people everywhere, whether it’s in China, whether it’s Iran, whether it’s any place else, to protest peacefully, to make known their views, to vent their frustrations.

“And as that’s repressed in one way or another, in any given country, we speak out against it, we stand up against it, and we take action against it,” he added.

Tapper, in questioning Blinken, noted that the Biden administration has thus far taken a “more tepid” approach in addressing the protests of China’s strict COVID-19 protocols compared with its more vocal support for protests in Iran, which erupted after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody, three days after she was detained by the Islamic morality police in Tehran. Amini was allegedly arrested for wearing her headscarf improperly.

Blinken, however, stressed that the administration supports the rights of protesters in both countries.

“Fundamentally, Jake, this is not about us,” he said. “This is about people in both countries trying to express their views, trying to have their aspirations met, and the response that the governments are taking to that.”

Blinken, who has a trip to China scheduled for early next year, said he intends to address the matter directly with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

“We’ll say what we always say and what President Biden has said to Xi Jinping,” Blinken said, “which is that human rights and basic civil liberties go to the heart of who we are as Americans, and no American government—no American president—is going to be silent on that.”

Demonstrators hold blank signs during a protest in Beijing on Nov. 28, 2022. Bloomberg

Also noting that he felt it was important to prevent any “misunderstandings” between the United States and China, he added: “We’re in an intense competition with China. There’s no secret about that, and, by the way, there’s nothing wrong with competition as long as it’s fair—as long as it’s on a level playing field. But we want to make sure that that competition does not veer into conflict, so I’ll be pursuing these conversations early next year.”

Blinken also said he hoped to find ways to “cooperate” with China on issues like climate change and global health.

Recently, amid increasing protests and unrest over China’s stringent COVID prevention policies, authorities in the country have begun to relax restrictions.

However, Zhang Tianliang, a U.S.-based China commentator, warned that the move might only be a temporary stopgap measure to restore calm before retaliating against the protesters.

Likewise, China expert Tang Jingyuan said it is likely that the Chinese Communist Party (CCC) would use technology to identify and arrest the protesters.

“The CCP has the help of big data, face recognition, and its various surveillance methods,” Jingyuan said. “So technically speaking, it will not be too difficult for them to locate most of the people who participated on the scene.”

Republicans have been particularly critical of the Biden administration’s response to the protests, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) describing it as “worse than expected.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), as ranking Republican members of the Congressional Commission on China, issued a joint statement slamming the administration for not condemning the CCP outright.

“The Biden Administration’s weak rejection of the CCP’s zero-Covid policy and refusal to call out General Secretary Xi’s totalitarian grip is nothing short of cowardly,” they said on Nov. 28. “Just weeks after shaking hands with Xi in Bali, President Biden and his administration have once again demonstrated that they are unwilling to stand up to the CCP and stand in solidarity with the Chinese people.”

Also calling out Nike, Apple, and “the rest of our nation’s hypocritical corporate elites,” they added: “These protests are not about a public health crisis, but a human rights crisis. The United States must be unwavering in our support for the Chinese people as they bravely call for freedom.”