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CNN 5 Things

One Thing: Zero Patience for Zero-Covid in China

CNN 5 Things

CNN

News, Daily News

3.71.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2022

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

China has signaled it may adjust some aspects of its strict zero-Covid policy following a massive show of defiance in cities across the country, with some openly calling for the removal of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. We examine the financial and psychological ramifications of the restrictions and look at whether the protests could force more change. Guest: Selina Wang, CNN International Correspondent To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

A few weeks ago on the show we talked about the protests in Iran and just how rare it was to see such open descent in a place like that.

0:09.0

Well, if mass protests are rare in Iran, they are practically unheard of in China.

0:18.4

Yet over the past week and a half, that is exactly what we've seen. Anger on the streets of Chinese cities. The biggest nationwide display of discontent this tightly controlled

0:35.9

country has seen in a generation. Large crowds of protesters are openly

0:40.7

defying the Chinese president and calling on him and the Communist Party

0:45.1

to step down.

0:46.4

Thousands of people took to the streets all over the country, angry and frustrated

0:51.0

about the country's extremely harsh COVID restrictions.

0:54.0

Police have responded to the unrest with brutality, chaotic scenes of protesters being dragged,

1:00.0

shoved, and beaten.

1:01.0

My guest this week is CNN International Correspondent Salina Wang.

1:05.8

For months, she's been looking into the wide-ranging repercussions of China's zero COVID policy.

1:11.9

We talk about what put these protesters over the edge and what the

1:15.4

government's response can tell us about its leader, Gizgen-Ping. Let's go to

1:19.9

Beijing. From CNN, this is one thing. I'm David Rhine.

1:25.0

Salina, where does this story start?

1:34.0

So these protests that we've been seeing sweeping across the country are the culmination of

1:39.7

years of anger and frustration from people in China who have been living under these draconian

1:45.2

zero COVID lockdowns.

1:46.9

I mean, this has been going on pretty much since the start of the pandemic.

1:51.4

People are stuck in this endless cycle of

1:53.0

lockdowns, mass quarantine, mass testing, and that is why all of this pent-up

...

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