Xi’s Zero-Covid Policy Sparks Largest Protests Since 1989

The apparent failure by Beijing to determine new ways to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, given what many consider the largest mass protests since the student movement of 1989, has exposed the limited abilities of the new Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership to handle unexpected events despite its extensive security and surveillance apparatus. CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping, who gained near-total control of the party apparatus at the 20th Party Congress late last month, is nowhere to be seen after tens of thousands of students on at least 50…