Are China’s Zero-COVID Protests Really A Color Revolution Like Some On The Left Claim?

The leftist-friendly segment of the Alt-Media Community should have adopted a pragmatic wait-and-see approach instead of jumping the gun and trying to be “more pro-Chinese than the CPC itself” by prematurely concluding that this is a bonafide Color Revolution.

The leftist-friendly segment of the Alt-Media Community (AMC) is largely united in speculating that China’s zero-COVID protests are supposedly a US-backed Color Revolution plot due to the following points that they believe extend credence to their latest theory:

1. It’s against their “politically correct” dogma to acknowledge that anyone other than “far-right extremists” would ever dare to protest against anything connected to COVID;

2. China is practically worshipped as the “god-state” of their “secular religion” and can accordingly do no wrong, hence why all protesters there are supposedly “foreign agents”;

3. And many conservatives among the AMC as well as the Mainstream Media (MSM) are generally supportive of these protests, with the later even outright hoping that they’ll lead to regime change.

The reality is a lot different than how they perceive it, however, exactly as was the case when they similarly speculated that last summer’s protests in Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan were also a Color Revolution (which I responded to here, here, here, here, and here):

1. Nothing is above being constructively critiqued, and believing that only “far-right extremists” ever protested anything connected to COVID is falling for a blatant MSM lie;

2. The Communist Party of China (CPC) emphasized the pragmatism of self-reform after October’s National Congress, meaning that it acknowledges that shortcomings exist and must be rectified;

3. And while some demonstrators are clearly serving foreign interests, their opportunism and subsequent amplification of their anti-state slogans by the MSM shouldn’t discredit organic protests.

The official American and Chinese responses to these protests also deserve to be analyzed in order to arrive at a more accurate conclusion about whether or not the latest events do indeed represent a Color Revolution:

1. The US National Security Council’s muted response deliberately didn’t seek to fan the flames of protest due to the delicate Sino-American discussions on a New Détente;

2. The Chinese authorities have also reacted with restraint for the most part except when decisively intervening to remove provocateurs from the crowd and quell what could have otherwise become riots;

3. And the above indicates that the US is reacting cautiously due to ongoing diplomatic developments while China’s response suggests acknowledgement of the protests’ organic roots.

Building upon the last-mentioned point, there are several reasons why average Chinese are demonstrating against their government’s zero-COVID policy, which should hopefully help clarify the reason why their authorities are reacting with such restraint:

1. The vast majority of these demonstrators have directed their anger against local officials’ excessively strict policy implementations and suspected misconduct, not against the CPC or President Xi;

2. These same average Chinese patiently complied with the zero-COVID for nearly three years despite the socio-economic hardships this entailed, yet they’re now restless for clarity about the future;

3. And the recent tragedy in Urumqi served as a “trigger event” for inspiring these patient, patriotic, and well-intended average Chinese to finally make their literally years-long concerns public like never before.

Having explained the organic roots behind these protests, which the CPC itself seems to also acknowledge as evidenced by the authorities’ very restrained response to the latest events, it’s worthwhile to warn about how they’re nevertheless being exploited by some external actors:

1. The anti-state slogans shouted by some demonstrators confirms that they’re opportunists, if not aligned with foreign actors to some extent or another, yet they’re nevertheless just a radical minority;

2. Those slogans and other subversive tactics such as provoking the security services into kinetically responding are actively amplified by the MSM in order to manipulate perceptions in China and abroad;

3. But precisely because the vast majority of the demonstrators are average well-intended patriots, they’re extremely unlikely to let their self-reform movement get sabotaged by foreign-influenced forces.

Self-reform isn’t just one of the guiding philosophies of the CPC, but of Chinese society as a whole, which explains why the latest manifestation of this mindset in action can actually ensure the integrity of these protests:

1. Average, patriotic, and well-intended demonstrators wouldn’t ever tolerate subversive elements infiltrating their ranks since they discredit their movement by turning it into a Hybrid War weapon;

2. Subversive elements that make their anti-state agenda known are removed from the protests by the average, patriotic, and well-intended demonstrators themselves or by the security forces if need be;

3. And MSM-amplified footage depicting groups of subversive anti-state elements therefore isn’t representative of the latest grassroots self-reform movement but proof of radical opportunists.

That last-mentioned point unintentionally succeeded in manipulating the perceptions of the leftist-friendly segment of the AMC by serving as confirmation bias of their theory that the zero-COVID protests are supposedly a Color Revolution, which serves US interests to an extent in the following ways:

1. Upon being deceived by the MSM’s latest psy-op misportraying an opportunistic and radical minority as the majority, the leftist-friendly segment of the AMC reacted by discrediting the protests as a whole;

2. Their presumably well-intended efforts to defend China’s national model of democracy from what they’re wrongly convinced is foreign meddling thus goes against the interests of average Chinese;

3. They therefore unwittingly function as the tip of the US’ Hybrid War spear after being misled into leveraging their credentials in the AMC to discredit the Chinese people’s latest self-reform movement.

It didn’t have to be this way, hence why it’s almost tragic that these presumably well-intended folks who in all probability very passionately support the People’s Republic (so much so that they likely worship it as the “god-state” of their “secular religion”) are inadvertently harming it, since they could have instead:

1. Acknowledged that the scale and scope of the latest protests, especially their presence in some of China’s leading universities like President Xi’s alma mater Tsinghua, suggest that they’re truly organic;

2. Calmly warned about Color Revolution risks like radical opportunists and MSM perception manipulation campaigns without discrediting the grassroots self-reform movement as a whole;

3. And adopted a pragmatic wait-and-see approach instead of jumping the gun and trying to be “more pro-Chinese than the CPC itself” by prematurely concluding that this is a bonafide Color Revolution.

The insight shared this analysis therefore leads to three primary conclusions that the reader should hopefully dwell upon in order to learn from the way in which the leftist-friendly segment of the AMC reacted to the ongoing zero-COVID protests:

1. The scale and scope of the protests coupled with the state’s restrained reaction suggest that this is an organic movement inspired by the CPC’s self-reform philosophy and triggered by the Urumqi tragedy;

2. Those at home and abroad who exploited this movement to advance their own agenda, including the leftist-friendly segment of the AMC, discredited themselves in the eyes of the Chinese people;

3. And everything will ultimately be resolved in the best interests of the Chinese people and their state upon both working within the social contract that forms the basis of their national model of democracy.