China eases 'zero-COVID' rules following protests — but Xi may have painted himself into a corner

Cracks have appeared in China's draconian "zero-COVID" policy as Beijing reacts to a wave of protests that have at times embraced overtly political calls for greater freedom and the end of one-party rule.

As the week drew to a close and the protests slowed, major cities such as Chengdu and Guangzhou relaxed both lockdowns and testing requirements, and public transport and retail business resumed in some other areas.

Beijing newspaper Yicai reported that people with mild COVID in the city are now being allowed to isolate at home, rather than in the hated quarantine centres, and children under three are now exempt from testing requirements.

This relaxation of the rules carries a personal cost in prestige for President Xi Jinping, who unwisely made "zero-COVID" his own personal project.

Xi told visiting European Council President Charles Michel that the protests occurred because "people are frustrated" after three years of the pandemic.

"It was mainly students or teenagers in university. That's the explanation that was given," a senior European official told Agence France-Presse, speaking on condition of anonymity.

That explanation is not borne out by videos that have emerged from China.

The relaxation of COVID-19 controls in China was welcomed by the World Health Organization (WHO), which had described them as "not sustainable."

The extreme nature of China's COVID-19 response has been too much even for the organization seen as a promoter of lockdowns by many in the West.

"We've all had to deal with restrictions of movement, we've all had to deal with having our lives changed. And frankly, it's exhausting," said WHO emergencies director Dr. Michael Ryan. "It's really important that governments listen to their people when the people are in pain."

But Beijing is also signalling it does not intend to let the protests pass without punishment. Pedestrians and subway travellers were subjected to random searches of their phones as police reportedly looked for photos of protests, messages about protests, banned apps or evidence of VPN use to get around China's "Great Firewall" of censorship. Some people were taken into custody following those searches.

Xi can consider himself fortunate that he does not have to render accounts in a democratic system. If he did, the first six weeks of his undemocratic mandate as de facto president for life might be hard to explain.

Instead of adhering to the top-down "social harmony" Xi has championed as an alternative to the chaotic freedom of the West, tens of thousands of Chinese have risen up in angry non-conformity.

And abroad, China has watched the movement toward "decoupling" and "friendshoring" gather pace, threatening its weakened economy with the loss of markets in the West.