‘Can you repeat the question?’ China official after long pause on Covid protest question. Watch video
As China is grappling with the huge public protests towards Xi Jinping’s lockdown orders, overseas ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian stated China is following a ‘dynamic 0 covid coverage’ and there may be no public anger. He changed into replying to the query of a journalist from Reuters and now the video goes viral. Not due to the fact the solution he eventually gave however the lengthy pause that he took handiest to invite the journalist to copy his query.
Zhao Lijian’s lengthy pause has been defined as ‘awkward silence’ through The Guardian. The query changed into: “Given the huge show of anger and frustration on the 0 Covid coverage in current days throughout China, is China considering finishing it and if so, when?” The spokesperson endured searching down sifting papers in the front of him and after nearly 20 seconds, he requested the query to be repeated. As the query changed into repeated, Zhao Lijian took every other quick pause after which seemed as much as say, “What you noted does now no longer replicate what happened”.
China witnessed huge protests withinside the previous couple of days consisting of in Shanghai and Beijing towards the stringent lockdown measures imposed through Jinping. Police, however, stepped up the crackdown through traveling the protesters’ homes. Places, in which anti-authorities protests took place, had been sealed with barricades. Students who confirmed towards the authorities at universities had been requested to visit their hometowns.
