This is GPS, the Global Public Square. Welcome to all of you in the United States and

around the world. I'm Faris Zakaria, coming to you live from New York.

Today on the program, clamoring for change in China.

Progressive sprouted up across the country, calling for an end to Beijing's highly restrictive

zero COVID policy. What will come of the unrest? Will the demonstrators get what they want?

We will get the latest from Newsweek's Melinda Liu. Then, come a secretary, Gina Romando,

and how the U.S. can counter China economically. Also, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria

Ressa shares important lessons on how to fight for freedom.

It reminds me of that Melinda said, the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory

against forgetting. It is a fight she knows all too well.

But first, here's my take. Over the past few months, we've worried a great deal about

the fragility of democracy. From the United States and Brazil to Sweden and Italy, the

system seemed to be facing real challenges. In fact, in all of these cases, elections

have had the effect of taming many of the most illiberal forces. And at least for now,

the center has held. Meanwhile, we are seeing in some of the world's most powerful autocracies

signs of deep and structural weaknesses. The most striking example is China, where an

extraordinary wave of protest is confronting the powers that be. At the heart of the problem

is the unwillingness of the central government to end its zero COVID policy. This is a problem

inherent in dictatorships where decision making is closed, hierarchical and unaccountable.

Unlike autocrats, democratic leaders face persistent pressure to change policy. There's

loud and noisy criticism of the government. Outside experts and observers present alternative

strategies. Leaders know they face elections. So if things aren't working out, policies

...