For a while, Xi Jinping seemed invincible. He presides over a country whose economy is still growing despite showing some signs of faltering.
Through the Communist Party of China (CPC), he rules with an iron fist, tolerating minimal dissent while controlling the narratives within his borders and internationally. Yet, this veneer of invincibility is slowly being eroded.
Though China’s achievements are undoubtedly impressive, they also mask excesses in human rights abuses. Unfortunately, the world is more muted in its criticism due to China’s economic wealth, power and fear of reprisal. Nonetheless, this doesn’t diminish the atrocities committed by the CPC.
For example, in September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that an estimated 500,000 people were sentenced and imprisoned in a brutal crackdown in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Though not all are convicted political prisoners, HRW reports that “the available figures indicate that the total number of people wrongfully imprisoned is much higher than generally reported based on earlier official figures”.
The same report expands on the system in place: “The CPC controls all three branches of the criminal justice system, resulting in widespread denial of fair trial rights.
While basic procedural protections exist, the authorities can easily circumvent them. The government regularly deprives suspects in political cases of all protections.”
The behaviour of the Beijing government in Xinjiang has prompted some human rights groups and international governments to accuse it of committing crimes against humanity and genocide against the Uyghur population.
It is estimated that more than one million Uyghurs are detained in “re-education camps”, which have a shoot-to-kill policy for those trying to escape.
Moreover, the region has been flooded by a mass influx of Han Chinese to overwhelm the ethnic Uyghur population.
The government has also targeted religious freedom and holy sites, leading some Uyghur activists to fear for the very existence of their culture.
The government in Beijing denies these charges, arguing that it is simply implementing measures needed to combat terrorism and to restore peace, prosperity, law and order in Xinjiang. It is a strategy that few around the world buy into.
There is a familiar pattern in this response.
Any domestic criticism of the government is labelled as “terrorism”; any criticism from international quarters is described as being “anti-Chinese”.
However, this seemingly invincible behemoth has been forced to make a U-turn over its zero-COVID policy, which quite simply can never be successful, especially in a country of 1.4 billion people.
The most widespread protests seen since the 1989 Tiananmen movement and a unified display of defiance following the imposition of the latest restrictions have clearly left an impact.
The Beijing government faltered. Restrictions were lifted despite the high case numbers while quarantine and testing requirements were relaxed.
In some parts of Beijing, close contacts of known cases are allowed to quarantine at home. Other cities have also relaxed the rules.
This behaviour change automatically raises the question: has the regime in Beijing changed tack?
Has it realised that it cannot simply crush popular dissent through unscrupulous means?
A reply in the affirmative would be mere wishful thinking. The Great Firewall will probably become even stronger and more crackdowns will occur in the coming months.
The recent developments, however, are encouraging.
Despite the evident risks, those who care about the democratic process should continue to call out the behaviour of Xi’s regime when it continues in its flagrant human rights abuses.