"Teenagers Who...": On China Protests, Xi Jinping Has This Theory, Says Report
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Chinese President Xi Jinping told EU President Charles Michel who he believed was protesting and why, says newspaper report
In his first comment on the unprecedented public protests against his stringent zero-Covid policy, Chinese President Xi Jinping told EU President Charles Michel that they were carried out by “mainly students” who were “frustrated” after three years of the pandemic, a media report said on Friday.
Xi held talks with Michel in Beijing on Thursday. In his talks, Michel “pleaded for use of vaccines and then raised the question of China's measures and government measures,” a senior official said, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper reported from Brussels.
“And the response we got from the President was explaining why there were protests, claiming that after three years of Covid he had an issue because people were frustrated. It was mainly students or teenagers in university,” they added.
European officials say Xi's comments during a meeting with Michel signal that he is ready to loosen controls further.