‘Can you repeat the question?’ China official after long pause on Covid protest question

As China is grappling with the massive public protests against Xi Jinping’s lockdown orders, foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China is following a ‘dynamic zero covid policy’ and there is no public anger.

He was replying to the question of a journalist from Reuters and now the video is going viral. Not because the answer he finally gave but the long pause that he took only to ask the journalist to repeat his question.

Zhao Lijian’s long pause has been described as ‘awkward silence’ by The Guardian. The question was: “Given the widespread display of anger and frustration at the zero Covid policy in recent days across China, is China thinking about ending it and if so, when?”

The spokesperson continued looking down sifting papers in front of him and after almost 20 seconds, he asked the question to be repeated.

As the question was repeated, Zhao Lijian took another brief pause and then looked up to say, “What you mentioned does not reflect what happened”.

China witnessed massive protests in the last few days including in Shanghai and Beijing against the stringent lockdown measures imposed by Jinping. Police, however, stepped up the crackdown by visiting the protesters’ homes. Places, where anti-government protests took place, have been sealed with barricades. Students who demonstrated against the government at universities have been asked to go to their hometowns.