Professor Greitens in the Journal of Democracy

Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens, founding director of the Asia Policy Program, was published in the Journal of Democracy, discussing the nationwide protests against Chinese President Xi Jinping’s zero-covid policy and the reaction we should expect from the Chinese Communist Party. The wide-spread demonstrations following the November 25 apartment fire in Urumqi may represent points of localized failures in Xi’s “prevention and control” approach to China’s national security. However, China’s surveillance and police capabilities are proving useful in the party-state’s strategy because of its capacity to gain citizens’ information used to conduct targeted and private tactics that “atomize” protest movements. “Protest is, by its nature, visible and observable to outsiders. Repression, on the other hand, is often hidden and discreet- and successful repression is especially likely to be so,” said Dr. Greitens. Read the full article here.