Xi Jinping's Mouthpiece Slams US And Britain, Justifies Crackdown On Protestors As Way 'To Protect Our People's Lives'

A China spokesperson slammed Western nations for interfering with domestic affairs after the U.S. and Britain issued statements backing Chinese protestors who lashed out against President Xi Jinping and his stringent COVID-19 restrictions over the weekend.

What Happened: Hua Chunying, China's Foreign Affairs Ministry's spokesperson and Assistant Minister, compared the government's crackdown in China with America’s COVID, Fentanyl, and gun violence death toll. 

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"The price of “freedom” in the U.S.: 1 million Covid deaths + 40,000 gun deaths per year + 107,622 Fentanyl deaths in 2021 alone. The American people deserve something far better than that. What we want is to protect our people’s lives and ensure them a better life," she said in a tweet. 

This came after the White House on Monday said it backs the right of people to protest peacefully in China. “We’ve long said everyone has the right to peacefully protest, here in the United States and around the world. This includes in the PRC (People’s Republic of China),” the National Security Council said in a statement.

Although the protest against Xi Jinping and his Communist Party has died down, the police are now reaching out to some protesters seeking information on their whereabouts. Police officers were seen patrolling in large numbers on Tuesday in parts of Beijing and Shanghai where the protests were held, reported BBC. 

The U.K. said Xi’s government should “take notice” of protests as they are “rare,” as per a Reuters report. “These are the voices of Chinese people talking to their government and I think it’s right that the Chinese government listens to what those people are saying,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Monday.

Chunying also slammed the U.K. and justified the Chinese government’s arrests during the rare protest. "How does the U.K. government handle domestic protesters? In 2020, the police arrested 150+ people protesting against Covid lockdown in London," she said.

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