Taiwan’s foreign minister has backed China’s anti-Covid protesters but also raised concerns that Beijing may seek to scapegoat Taiwan if demonstrations resume.
Joseph Wu said Taiwan stands with other democracies and urged China to “respect basic human rights” amid the extraordinary protests that swept across China last week and the police’s quick response to those involved approach.
“When people’s livelihoods are cut or people’s lives are made uncomfortable because of government policies, I think it is people’s right to stand up and say they are demanding some basic rights,” Wu said in an exclusive interview with the Guardians.
“Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, is a fundamental right and we really hope that the Chinese government will respect this kind of fundamental right.”
However, Wu said Taiwan had paid “close attention” to the rallies to see how they would “develop” and expressed an “additional concern” that they might resume.
“We are always concerned that the Chinese government may try to create an external crisis to divert attention domestically,” Wu said. “We are concerned that the Chinese government will target Taiwan, accusing Taiwan of being the cause of the unrest in China.
“The government seems willing to relax some of its measures,” Wu said. “So in the future, these could lead to more demonstrations among the Chinese people because they think that if there are major grievances, this is probably a very effective way to change government policy.”
Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo/EPALast week there were some specific mentions of Taiwan amid claims of foreign involvement in China’s protests, but none from Chinese official voices. A memo seen by the Guardian from a manager of a Guangzhou apartment building blamed the unrest by American and Taiwanese “trolls,” and there were sporadic mentions on social media, suggesting the claim had some acceptance.
Communist Party (CCP) disinformation campaigns and cognitive warfare are a key element of Beijing’s attempts to destabilize the Taiwanese government and society, and are a growing concern for the island’s government.
There is no evidence that the protests were instigated by foreign forces. The accusation was mocked by protesters who attended at least one rally, with a widely circulated clip showing a man wondering how they could communicate with foreign forces if they couldn’t connect to foreign internet services.
China’s government appears to have largely halted protests, the most significant protests there since the 1989 Tiananmen rallies, which were brutally crushed by the military. Authorities have offered a carrot-and-stick response, with relaxed restrictions on the wider population and a police crackdown on protesters and citizens using illegal VPNs and messaging apps.
Major cities have lifted restrictions, reduced testing requirements and the government has postponed their official messages to emphasize Omicron’s lesser severity. However, there are concerns about the major outbreak of Covid-19 that could be yet to come if China follows the course of other countries that have abandoned zero-Covid.
Taiwan also conducted an essentially zero Covid response throughout most of the pandemic. It didn’t impose lockdowns but maintained closed borders and strict quarantine requirements for positive cases and their contacts to help eliminate outbreaks. Its success kept mortality rates low, but also meant that there was very little natural immunity when a “tsunami” of the highly transmissible Omicron variant hit. Like China today, Taiwan’s elderly population was severely under-vaccinated, and many died as the virus spread.
Asked what advice Taiwan might give China, Wu said it was “not easy” to go through the first wave. He pointed to China’s poor vaccination rates and the lower effectiveness of China’s domestically made vaccines.
“In such circumstances, I think the Chinese government is caught in a dilemma,” he said, but advised China not to return to lockdowns.
“On the one hand, they understand that the lockdowns can cause their economic slowdown and inconvenience to people, and arouse resentment from ordinary Chinese people. But on the other hand, if they open up to fight normal people without proper vaccines, they will face a major disease crisis.”