A group of United States Senators They warned China not to suppress the protests that have spread across the country, and that any use of force would affect the relations with washington.
In a letter made public this Friday, 42 members of the Senate, out of 100 members, recalled the violent repression by the Chinese Communist Party against the democratic uprising led by students in the Plaza de Tiananmen in 1989.
“We warn the Communist Party of China in the strongest possible terms not to engage in any further violent repression against protesters peaceful Chinese who simply want more freedom”, reads the letter sent on Thursday to the ambassador of Beijing in Washington, qin gang.
“If that happens, we believe that there will be serious consequences for the relationship between the United States and China, causing extraordinary damage,” says the letter, signed by Republican and Democratic Senators.
The President’s Government Joe Biden he has been cautious in his public comments on the demonstrations, emphasizing the right to protest peacefully.
The State Department spokesman Ned Pricesaid Friday that the people of China should have “the same universal rights that people around the world have” to peaceful assembly.
China is experiencing the most widespread demonstrations since the Tiananmen Square demonstration, which began last weekend against the “zero COVID” policy but led to calls for greater political freedom.
China’s vast security apparatus moved quickly to crack down on the rallies, only to later admit that some coronavirus restrictions could be lifted.
Last Wednesday, the head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinkenassured that the Chinese crackdown on protests against its “zero COVID” policy is a “sign of weakness” of the communist regime.
Blinken said on the chain NBCNews that people all over the world have right to “make their frustration public”.
“In any country where we see that happening and the government taking massive repressive measures to stop it, that is not a sign of strength. It’s a sign of weakness”, said Blinken in Romania, where he attends meetings of the NATO.
Blinken, who plans to visit China next year, declined to comment on whether the protests affect the Xi Jinping regime.
estimated that China’s “zero covid” policywhich was the initial trigger for the protests, “is not something we would do,” adding that the United States chose to focus on vaccines, testing and treatment of the disease.
“China has to figure out how to advance covid treatment in a way that can respond to health needs but also to the needs of people”, said the Secretary of State.
The protests against the “zero COVID” policy, however, led to demands for political freedoms.
China’s top security body on Tuesday called for “strong measures” after several days of protests in major cities across the country against almost three years of strict confinements by covid-19, in a context of public frustration with the Chinese political system. Demonstrations broke out in the capital Beijing and other cities including Shanghai and Wuhan last weekend, taking China’s powerful security establishment by surprise.
The trigger for this national mobilization was the burning of an apartment building in Urumqi, capital of the northwestern region of Xinjiang, in which 10 people were killed.
(With information from AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com