Days after Chinese officials went into overdrive to remove evidence of a rare protest in Beijing that featured enormous posters on a flyover calling for boycotts and the removal of Xi Jinping, protestors have discovered a new means to carry on their demands. According to reports, some protestors in China are sharing anti-Jinping posters using AirDrop. The protest is a part of the ongoing protest against Xi’s tight hold on the country and the government’s “zero-Covid” policy of lockdowns and mass testing.
Vice reported how on Tuesday, a Shanghai resident was riding the subway when an AirDrop notification appeared on his iPhone, saying, “Xi Jinping’s iPhone’ would like to share a photo.”
Curiosity got the better of him, and he accepted the request, receiving a graphic criticising Chinese President Xi Jinping’s autocratic reign. “Oppose dictatorship, totalitarianism, and autocracy,” the posters read.
AirDrop is a feature available in Apple devices that allows transferring files using close-range wireless communication. Available on both iOS and macOS, AirDrop uses both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to transfer files across devices. This feature transfers files directly from one device to another, and not through any Internet-based service.
Notably, AirDrop, which can only be used within close range and between Apple devices, is one of the few relatively untraceable methods of file sharing. Some Chinese people are also using the feature to surreptitiously transmit protest messages inspired by the two banners placed on a highway bridge in Beijing last week by a protestor, who is being referred to as the “bridge man” by the people of China.
Notably, last week, several photos and videos on social media appeared showing plumes of smoke billowing from the bridge over a major thoroughfare in the Haidian district of the capital, The Guardian reported.
Thousands of WeChat users ramped up anti-Xi narratives after this ‘bridge man’ burnt a tyre and draped two banners from the bridge demanding the ouster of “dictator and traitor Xi Jinping.”
One of the banners read, “Say no to Covid test, yes to food. No to lockdown, yes to freedom. No to lies, yes to dignity. No to cultural revolution, yes to reform. No to great leader, yes to vote. Don’t be a slave, be a citizen.” The other accused Xi of being a dictator.
Aside from distributing messages in public via AirDrop, some people have scribbled slogans opposing Xi’s reign on restroom walls and notice boards in Chinese universities, as well as providing information on how to avoid censorship via WeTransfer.
China called out for its zero-Covid policy
One of the reasons for growing discontent among the people in China is their government’s zero-Covid policy. Previously, in Shanghai, thousands of people were separated from their families and children after testing positive for Covid in order to accomplish the zero-Covid policy goal. According to The Geneva Daily, delays in crucial medical treatment and food supply to afflicted households had become routine.
The Chinese government, according to The Geneva Daily, utilised its internet censorship to silence scores of bloggers, academics, and activists, including Fang Bin, Chen Qiushi, professor Chen Zhaozhi, Chen Mei, and Cai Wei. The Chinese government ruthlessly silenced them after they posted stories, interviews, and personal experiences of people affected by Covid in Wuhan in April 2020.
China jailed the most number of journalists in the world
According to CPJ’s annual prison census, China has detained the most number of journalists globally. According to the report, there are 274 journalists lodged in prisons across the globe this year as compared to 272 journalists imprisoned in 2016.
China has a history of censoring not just the country’s domestic media space, thanks to state-supervised content delivery, but also the global media by way of harassment and intimidation of foreign correspondents working in the country. However, it is often difficult for China to force the foreign media to toe the establishment’s line. Hence, the Chinese government resorts to intimidation and scare tactics to bully them.
As China is more sensitive to its international image, especially after its grave mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic, they are not taking any risks anymore. The Chinese government are now expelling journalists and sometimes refusing to recognise reporters.
“Going after foreign journalists is part of a broad strategy to control all information, including online voices, which has indeed become more challenging for them on all fronts as the methods of communication increase and diversify,” said Beach, who added that it is also part of their strategy to proactively rewrite the global narrative about China, especially with the COVID story.
As part of their latest new tactic, the Chinese-state run news organisations and tabloids, as well as popular anonymous social media users on Weibo, often leak the identities of foreign journalists who “smear and attack China”, calling their coverage “biased” or “dishonest”.
