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The economic outlook for China is not good however its leaders respond to anti-lockdown protests
For much of the world there has been hope for some time that the worst economic shocks from the Covid pandemic are in the rearview mirror. In China, however, there are important reminders that risks to the world economy still remain.
Three years since the virus first spread, against the Beijing government’s strict zero-Covid policies have reignited concerns in financial markets over the economic costs of the pandemic. Global oil prices have , while the Chinese yuan and stock markets across Asia have taken a hammering.

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From Xinjiang to Shanghai and Beijing, protests are creating a rare sense of unity that Xi Jinping cannot afford to allow
China’s heavy-handed was intended to save lives. Now, it’s having devastating consequences. Last week, a fire , including children, in a tower block in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. As ever in China, official numbers are unreliable, and the true number of casualties may be much higher. It’s clear that the citizens now blame the tragedy on the lockdown, despite the claims of local officials that fire escapes in the building were not locked. Horrific videos of the fire show emergency services attempting in vain to douse the flames from beyond a roadblock, while victims scream from the windows pleading for somebody to open the doors of their apartments.
For once, the suffering of Xinjiang’s people seems to have evoked widespread empathy among China’s wider populace. When Uyghur demonstrations in Urumqi were crushed by police and security services in 2009, it evoked little sympathy from China’s ethnic Han majority. Instead, the demonstrations precipitated a wave of ethnic violence, accompanied by calls across the Chinese internet for severe punishment for the demonstrators. Similarly, the intense crackdown on Uyghur society that has been going on since 2017 – involving mass incarcerations, and the destruction of communities – was largely dismissed by the rest of the Chinese populace as a necessary measure to control a defiant and restive minority.
Dr James McMurray is a research associate in anthropology and a member of the Asia Centre at the University of Sussex

Barriers erected on street where demonstrations have been held against rigid coronavirus policies
Chinese police have launched a show of force across the country in an effort to head off further protests against the government’s rigid zero-Covid policies and tackle what have become the most extraordinary acts of civil disobedience in the country for decades.
Dozens of police cars lined the streets around a central Beijing subway station and patrolled surrounding blocks on Monday evening, while uniformed and plain-clothed officers stood guard at station exits and stopped passersby for questioning. Hours after the scheduled start of a protest organised via encrypted messaging apps there were few apparent participants.

WTO’s trade goods barometer has fallen below trend as demand weakens
The “unprecedented waves of protest in China” have caused ripples of unease across financial markets, explains Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Worries are mounting about the repercussions for the world’s second-largest economy, she explains:
As demonstrations spread across the country from Beijing to Xinjiang and Shanghai, reflecting rising anger about the zero-Covid policy, a sustained recovery in demand across the vast country appears even further away.
This has piled fresh downwards pressure on the oil price, with Brent Crude dropping to $81 a barrel, the lowest level since early January.
We’re really looking at the government response to what’s happening ... the government response is so unpredictable, and of course that just means derisking.

The zero-Covid policy is damaging the economy, but to reverse it risks loss of life, economic damage and the emergence of new variants
Protesters across China have made one thing very clear: after three years of harsh restrictions, of their government’s pursuit of an increasingly ineffective zero-Covid strategy. China once celebrated its success in containing outbreaks and keeping its economy running, but it has been slow to adapt to a world of more infective variants and mass vaccination. As life begins to feel increasingly normal in Britain and elsewhere, – representing a third of China’s population and two-fifths of its economic output – are in partial or total lockdown.
The protests will put pressure on the regime to change its approach, but that may be easier said than done. China has been highly politically committed to its Covid policy, even as it has become less and less tenable. And the situation with its health system, and vaccine stocks is vastly different from ours, partly because of the choices it made earlier in the pandemic. China will have to face some form of living with Covid soon, and millions of lives – not to mention global economic stability – depend on how this happens.
Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

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Activity indicates ‘first major failure’ to stop government interference under ownership of Elon Musk
Twitter has been flooded with nuisance posts designed to obscure news of the coronavirus lockdown protests in China, in an apparent state-directed attempt to suppress footage of the demonstrations.
Chinese bot accounts – not operated by humans – are being used to flood the social networking service with adverts for sex workers, pornography and gambling when users search for a major city in the country, such as Shanghai or Beijing, using Chinese script.

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As protesters in Chinese cities rage against Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy, TV feeds are edited to avoid crowd scenes
Chinese state television has censored World Cup games to remove shots of maskless crowds after the sight of joyous fans celebrating in packed stadiums stoked anger back home, where hundreds of millions remain under strict pandemic restrictions.
A well-attended opening ceremony in Qatar – with no social distancing – led to users of Chinese social media platforms complaining that it contrasted with the severe isolation they felt under President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy.

We would like to speak to people in China about their views on the protests and what daily life is like with Covid restrictions
Protests over China’s Covid restrictions have spread to several cities, with demonstrations in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan and Guangzhou following a .
We would like to speak to people in China about the situation in their country. Have you or people you know taken part in the protests? What effect do you think they could have? What are your concerns?

Journalist Ed Lawrence was beaten after being arrested at a protest against China’s strict Covid restrictions, broadcaster says
Chinese police assaulted and detained a BBC journalist covering , releasing him after several hours, the broadcaster has said.
“The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai,” a spokesperson for the British public service broadcaster said.