Security tightened in China after widespread Covid protests

The BBC's World Affairs Editor, John Simpson, has been speaking to the News Channel about the groundswell of protests against the Covid measures in China.

He said while President Xi isn't going to back down, he sees something "fascinating" in the unfolding events.

"You listen to the demonstrators in Shanghai talking about Urumqi, thousands of miles away. When you look at the demonstrators in Beijing, they're holding up those sheets of paper, which is what those protesters in Hong Kong did.

"It's starting to get to be a national movement, not just something city by city, and state by state."

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One example of China's difficulties with dealing with Covid is the violent protests that broke out last week at the world's biggest iPhone factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou.

It is run by Taiwanese firm Foxconn, Apple's main subcontractor, and the plant assembles more iPhones than anywhere else in the world.

Videos show hundreds of workers marching, with some confronted by people in hazmat suits and riot police, and some seen smashing surveillance cameras and windows with sticks.

China’s strict zero Covid policy has posed challenges for the plant, which employs more than 200,000 workers on a campus in the city’s suburbs.

Last month, rising Covid cases saw the site locked down, prompting some workers to break out and go home. The company then recruited new workers with the promise of generous bonuses.

In a statement after the protests, the firm apologised for a "technical error" in its payment system. It said some workers had doubts about pay but that the firm would fulfil pay based on contracts.

It also described as "patently untrue" rumours that new recruits were being asked to share dormitories with workers who were Covid-positive.

Bloomberg is now reporting that Foxconn is offering bonuses of as much as $1,800 (£1,492) to existing workers at its Zhengzhou factory, aiming to sustain staffing levels and production.

Earlier this month, Apple warned investors of iPhone shipment delays.

The BBC has contacted Foxconn and Apple for responses.

Now is the time for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to set out his approach to China, the UK's chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has said.

Alicia Kearns, who chairs the committee of MPs which scrutinises the Foreign Office, described the protests in China as "incredibly serious".

Kearns said: "Rishi Sunak promised that when he became prime minister that he would change China policy on day one...

"So I think now is the time for him to set out his stall, what does this mean."

It comes as the prime minister is due to set out his approach to China in his first major foreign policy speech tonight at the Guildhall in London.

Kearns told the BBC engagement was needed with China, but also "tough conversations" and they needed to "recognise and respect human rights".

She added she was worried about the "online and on-street reaction" from police in China to the protests, and the Chinese Communist Party should not feel threatened by people want to be heard over the zero-Covid policy.

Turkey has called on the Chinese authorities to openly share the causes of a deadly fire in the western Chinese city of Urumqi.

The fire played a large part in leading to the protests now taking place across China.

Demonstrators have blamed lockdown rules for affecting rescue efforts in the city of Urumqi, but authorities deny this, insisting residents in the block were not locked in their homes or the building and could get out.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said it was "deeply saddened to learn of the deaths and injuries" resulting from the fire.

It added that the Turkish government "expects the causes of the fire to be made public".

Urumqi is in the Xinjiang region, an area home to many ethnic Uighurs - a Muslim Turkic-speaking minority who face widespread persecution and surveillance at the hands of the Chinese government.

A significant number of Uighurs live in Turkey and the issue has sometimes cast a cloud over Ankara's warming diplomatic and economic ties with Beijing.

China uses two main vaccines - Sinovac and Sinopharm - but there are doubts over whether they are really effective.

Both use inactivated virus to prompt an immune response and studies suggest they provide little protection against infection by the Omicron variant, even after two doses.

In any case, take up is low. Only about half of people in China aged 80 and above have received their primary vaccinations, with fewer than 20% of them having had a booster.

Fewer than 60% of the 60-69 age group is fully vaccinated.

China has been urging the elderly to get vaccinated as people in older age groups are the most likely to die from Covid-19.

The US and other Western nations have offered China mRNA vaccines, which might be more effective - but they have not been widely used in mainland China.

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Read more from BBC's Reality Check here

The Chinese economy could well be shrinking right now amid the upheavals around Covid lockdowns.

It is a far cry from the workshop of the world posting double digit growth year after year, exporting cheap prices across the Western world.

But this is a very different Chinese economy, with authorities attempting to contain Covid growth rates with lockdowns long abandoned elsewhere in the world.

Growth is being determined by these authoritarian moves by central government and increasingly resented by workers trapped in factories and students stuck on campuses.

Growing social unrest due to the restrictions has hurt exports – with turmoil at a manufacturing complex in Zhengzhou having a major impact on the supply of Apple’s iPhones, for example.

When some of these zero Covid curbs were eased recently, markets surged. The hope was that supply chain bottlenecks that have plagued the world economy, contributing to the global inflationary shock, could be less of a problem.

But as rates of infection have surged and curbs reapplied, the level of social discord and protest at Xi’s rule presents a surprising and new source of economic instability in the second largest global economy, and therefore the whole world.

And it raises a profound question - whether the implied deal the Chinese Communist Party has with its people, to provide the conditions for rising living standards, without the political freedoms that normally accompany them, has been broken by the prolonged lockdowns.

It's about 01:00 (17:00 GMT) in China, where there is still a heavy police presence on the streets in Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere following protests against the country's zero Covid policies at the weekend.

Here's a recap on the latest developments:

• Protesters have been demanding changes to the government's harsh Covid rules, but some have also called for President Xi Jinping to resign
• The demonstrations began after a fire broke out in a building in Urumqi that had been under lockdown for weeks, killing 10 people
• Authorities have denied claims that residents were locked in their homes and could not get out
• Vigils were held in Hong Kong on Monday evening to commemorate the victims of the Urumqi fire
• During the demonstrations, protesters held up a blank piece of paper to symbolise the lack of freedom of speech - speaking out without explicitly saying anything

• UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the protests showed how "deeply unhappy" people are with the zero Covid policy
• Chinese social media platforms have been heavily censored to prevent people from seeing images of the protests and discussing them

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A UN spokesman has urged China not to detain people for taking part in peaceful protests, according to the AFP news agency.

It comes as Beijing attempts to curb nationwide demonstrations against the country's strict Covid measures.

"We call on the authorities to respond to protests in line with international human rights laws and standards," AFP cited UN Human Rights Office spokesman Jeremy Laurence as saying.

"No one should be arbitrarily detained for peacefully expressing their opinions."

It’s just gone midnight in China and there remain tense scenes and a heavy police presence in major cities like Shanghai.

But China’s censorship machine is going into overdrive to stop people seeing demonstrations happening.

This is not just the case on domestic social media platforms - where protests have been routinely censored for years - but on international platforms like Twitter.

Aggressive attempts are being made by bots and click farms to pump out posts on Twitter about escorts, gambling and porn, amongst other things, to stop people from reading about the protests. They use hashtags like #Urumqi (the name of the city where the fire that triggered the protests took place) to stop people reading about the protests.

Within mainland China, there remains censorship on domestic social networks of key cities like Shanghai, to stop people reading or posting about the ongoing demonstrations.

But there now appears genuine nervousness about foreign observers reading about the scale of these protests - which can only be described as unprecedented.

And now a look at what's been happening on the markets in the wake of the weekend's protests.The demonstrations in Chinese cities against strict “zero-Covid” measures have driven down product prices and sparked demand concerns for the world’s second largest economy.

Stocks: Chinese stocks on Monday saw their worst day in a month. Stocks linked to China such as Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 4% as markets opened but recovered to a loss of more than 1% on Monday. China's CSI 300 index was down 1.8%, after opening down over 2%. Apple shares also slipped after media reports of the disruption causing production shortfalls in China.

Oil: Oil suffered its lowest level of the year for the world’s biggest crude importer. Benchmark brent crude - which is the international benchmark for oil prices - dropped 3.2% to trade at $80.90 per barrel at midday on Monday. In the US, West Texas Intermediate was down 3% at $73.97 per barrel.

Futures: Futures are contracts that allow investors to bet on the price of something at a future date. Major US stock index futures, such as the Nasdaq and S&P 500, fell on Monday, following concerns over the impact a slowdown in China’s economy has on global markets and supply chains. European futures are also down around 0.5% after a selldown in Chinese markets.

Currency: China's onshore yuan weakened to 7.19 against the US dollar, the weakest level since 10 November. The offshore yuan fell to a more than two-week low in Asian trading.

As we've reported, China is seeing record Covid case numbers at the moment, and many analysts are worried about the knock-on effects for the world's largest manufacturing economy and exporter of goods.

China's National Bureau of Statistics reported profits fell 3.0% in the first 10 months of 2022 compared to the previous year.

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EPACopyright: EPA

So often one item comes to symbolise an entire protest movement. In China, that item is a humble piece of blank paper.

The trend has its roots in the 2020 Hong Kong demonstrations, where locals held blank pieces of paper to protest against the city's draconian new national security laws.

Activists held the paper aloft after authorities banned slogans and phrases associated with the mass protest movement of 2019 that saw the city grind to a halt and officials violently clamp down on demonstrators.

Some have argued that the gesture is not only a statement about the silencing of dissent, but also a challenge to authorities, as if to say 'are you going to arrest me for holding a sign saying nothing?'"

Johnny, a 26-year old demonstrator in Beijing, told the Reuters news agency that the paper had come to "represent everything we want to say but cannot say".

Kerry Allen, the BBC's China media analyst, observed that Chinese censorship officials have gone into overdrive on the country's social media platforms.

"Tens of millions of posts have been filtered from search results," she said.

"'Blank sheet of paper' and 'white paper' now also only show sparing results."

The censors scrubbing of social media has provoked anger online, with one user writing that "if you fear a blank sheet of paper, you are weak inside".

Read more: Blank paper becomes the symbol of rare demonstrations

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We've been hearing more reaction now to the protests in China against its strict Covid measures.

Steven Lynch, managing director of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, says people need to see a road map out of the country’s zero Covid policies

He tells BBC News: “We are seeing political demonstrations, but I think the bulk of people demonstrating, they want an end or they want a roadmap to some level of normalisation when it comes to zero Covid or Covid within this country.

“If there is one case in a city, the whole city could be locked down, and that is what's happened to the last three years. I think people are just so worried.

"When will the end come? We don't have any communication around an exit strategy and that is what people are calling for."

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Vigils have been held in Hong Kong to commemorate the victims of the Urumqi fire and to show solidarity with anti-lockdown protests taking places across China.

Ten people died in the Chinese city of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, when a fire broke out in a high-rise building on Thursday night.

Protesters have attributed the death toll in part to the Chinese government's zero-Covid policy, which has seen many in Xinjiang and elsewhere confined to their homes for prolonged periods - though the government rejects the claim.

Monday evening saw dozens gather in Hong Kong's central business district and on the campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

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Photos showed people holding flowers and placing candles to spell out the date on which the fire took place.

Others could be seen holding up blank pieces of paper, which have become symbols of dissent in Hong Kong since the authorities banned slogans and phrases associated with protest movements.

Hong Kong has seen intermittent demonstrations in recent years after laws were introduced reducing its autonomy from the government in Beijing and making it easier to prosecute protesters.

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China’s zero Covid restrictions have pushed people to the limit mentally and physically, Howard Zhang, BBC Chinese Service editor, says.

Zhang says the policies have made it difficult for some to go to work and make a living.

“Most people, especially normal working people, have really been pushed to the limit. Some of the people may not have political gains or goals to go for but they struggle daily to make a living,” he tells BBC News.

“One of the main complaints is the local level officials, how they enforce this zero-Covid policy. People tend to see the local officials compete over who is more strict at adhering to the party's line.”

He says the scale of the Covid protests shows the widespread discontent within China.

“Yes, some of them chanted political slogans, but the majority are just asking - 'give us normal life back',” he says.

Isabelle Hilton, founder and senior adviser at the organisation China Dialogue, says the protests could result in a relaxation of Covid measures, but political grievances will “get a very harsh response”.

She says those calling for the resignation of President Xi Jinping will find that "life gets much more difficult".

She tells BBC News: "Don't forget that the party has the biggest digital panopticon. It has surveillance of every move that everyone makes through the apps on their phones.

"So they do know a lot about people - what they say, who they communicate with, where they were on a particular night."

Hilton says the government is trying to make it as difficult as possible for people to gather, but faces challenges.

“Everyone has camera phones and you know, the sight of the party's agents beating the people at this point could well inflame things,” she says.

“So they're smothering them, they're interfering with social media, news dispersal, they're putting up barriers, you see more and more police on the street.”

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Football fans around the world will have just watched Ghana fans wildly celebrate their side taking a precious 2-0 lead over South Korea in their World Cup group game in Qatar.

Those watching on BBC 1 will have had their screen filled with the image of a beaming - and maskless - Ghana fan celebrating wildly as the camera zooms in on their face for a close up shot. The picture is quickly followed up by a crestfallen - and maskless - Korean supporter seemingly on the brink of tears.

But those watching the clash on Chinese state TV will have experienced the moment differently to the rest of the world.

Instead of watching these maskless fans reacting to Mohammed Kudus' delicate header, those following on CCTV 5 were instead treated to an extended shot of Ghana coach Otto Addo's reaction to the strike.

The change is subtle but very deliberate. As anti-lockdown protests rock China, state TV executives have been careful to avoid beaming images of a world largely moving on from Covid restrictions into citizens' homes.

And while wide angle shots vaguely showing some maskless fans are almost impossible to avoid, close up shots of supporters enjoying the action free from restrictions look set to be missing from the tournament for Chinese viewers.

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The protests against China's zero-Covid policy are evidence their people are "deeply unhappy", the UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said.

Large crowds took to the streets in some of China's biggest cities over the weekend to protest against the country's strict Covid restrictions, which include mass testing and snap lockdowns.

Speaking in an interview with journalists, Cleverly said the Chinese government and international community should take notice over the rare protests.

He said: “It's clear that the Chinese people themselves are deeply unhappy with what is going on, about the restrictions imposed upon them by the Chinese government.

"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.”

If you're wondering what the protests have looked like - have a watch of this video shot in the early hours of Monday in the capital Beijing.

Despite the heavy police presence, crowds gather on the pavements. A car passes a large group of people beeping its horn - the crowd responds with a cheer.

Alongside the people gathering in the streets, a major element of protest in China inevitably takes place on social media - which is heavily censored.

But the "Great Firewall" - as the vast regime of automated and human censors is called by some - is by no means flawless, and protest posts do make it through and circulate before being restricted.

BBC News has seen examples of some images with lists of demands being sent around social media. Some of the demands include calls to:

• Abolish pandemic monitoring measures such as mandatory mass testing and digital health codes for work and travel
• Reverse the policy of closing schools, restaurants, shops or other businesses in the name of preventing Covid spreading
• Correctly publicize the danger of the virus "without exaggeration or alarmist talk"
• Apologise for "unreasonable" and "unscientific" epidemic prevention strategies
• Investigate and prosecute local government officials, testing companies and others involved in Covid restrictions over allegations of corruption, negligence and abuse of power