The Chinese government exercises control through local busybodies, explains Lynette H. Ong
It will fret that citizens no longer trust them, argues the expert on state repression
THE CENTRALISATION of political power in China allows the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to tightly control society. In the past week demonstrations over President Xi Jinping’s “zero-covid” policy in cities across the country, involving people from a variety of backgrounds, came as a surprise. That is probably because citizens rarely protest against government measures in this way; simultaneous national resistance to them is less common even than in other autocratic states, such as Russia. The party learned tough lessons in Tiananmen Square in 1989. It has since meticulously designed a system that can pre-empt major protests before they occur.
This article appeared in the By Invitation section of the print edition under the headline “The Chinese government exercises control through local busybodies, explains Lynette H. Ong”
From the December 3rd 2022 edition
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