Flowers, flags, a lot of police and prevention measures against COVID brought to paroxysm characterize the scenario of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which begins on Sunday in a Beijing completely armored from the inside and banned from the rest of the country.
The streets of the capital show extensive police deployment and strong security measures, more palpable in the vicinity of the central tiananmen square where the Great Hall of the People is located.
The venue will host the five-yearly event that will gather around 2,300 CCP delegates and in which the leader of the formation and president of the country, Xi Jinping, is expected to obtain an unprecedented third term among his most recent predecessors.
Part of the hard core of the political leadership, the so-called Political Bureau, will see changes and its new configuration will determine the ideological line of the party and the government of the country in the next period.
At the same time, parts of the city such as the arteries that surround its nerve center have been adorned with flags and floral decorations to show its most captivating face in a week in which all eyes will be on Beijing.
According to local media, Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, was ordered to limit the production of its steel industry to guarantee a few yet to be seen blue skies ahead of congress.
Controls to secure them all
The main intersections of the city have seen how the anarchic circulation of electric motorcycles driven by the delivery Suddenly it has been measured before the police presence in almost every corner.
“I was cycling home and when I stopped at the 4th ring road the police randomly checked my ID,” said a young woman in Beijing, and she was not the only one.
The police have also set up checkpoints and will be able to restrict access to subway stations busiest and closest to the main points of interest during the congress.
On previous occasions, shops, bars and restaurants have been affected by this type of event, with orders of limitate your capacity and opening hours, and even closing.
However, according to Rodrigo, a partner in a Mexican food restaurant located in an emblematic building in the center, “this year they haven’t told us anything, but it feels like people don’t go out“.
Work to enter Beijing
The control measures extend outward as well, with many citizens facing difficulties in returning to Beijing.
Numerous residents who traveled during the National Day holiday week in early October were left stranded after receiving a notification from the COVID tracking mobile app that prevented them from boarding trains or flights back to the city.
“Please delay your journey back to Beijing until COVID-related risks are ruled out,” read the notice thousands of travelers received in recent days as they tried to return home.
“After fighting for 24 hours with the authorities, they removed the notice from the app an hour after my train back to Beijing left, which obviously I couldn’t take which forced me to delay my return,” said a young Spanish woman on a trip to the southern city of Qingtian.
Faced with this situation, many affected people left desperate messages for help on Weibo, the “Chinese Twitter”, but these comments were censored on Monday.
Some of those who managed to arrive, in addition, received a notification in their covid tracking application that required them to submit to multiple PCR tests to access public spaces, even though they came from areas without cases.
Banned products
These measures, which seek to ensure a calm congress, without surprises and without protests, extend even to mailings.
Authorities are requiring more extensive inspections of shipments bound for Beijing, which is causing delayswhile courier companies are rejecting packages with fresh, refrigerated or frozen products.
The handling of dangerous and flammable chemical products has also been restricted, which has caused some schools and colleges to seal the cabinets containing these materials for chemistry classes.
An armor that adds to the already draconian measures imposed by politics since the start of the pandemic “zero dynamic covid” and that cause strong restrictions on journalists to cover the XX Congress.
In the last week, Beijing reported a total of 94 confirmed cases (73 symptomatic and 21 asymptomatic), which has raised concern among residents of the capital, fearful that these new positives could be used as an excuse to impose more restrictions taking advantage of the conclave.
Tiredness and criticism of the population
Despite the extensive propaganda display, the criticism and disagreements with the economic policy and the zero tolerance measures of COVID are noted. City closures and mass testing already have the exhausted people.
Even unusual acts of rebellion take place in the capital. The images of a banner criticizing Xi and her tight control, and demanding freedom and food, have jumped to social networks in China.
Diverse expectations before an event that, surely, leaves no one indifferent. There will be those who think that the country is experiencing a historic era with Xi at the head of a nation that is awakening by leaps and bounds, and there will be those who yearn for changes and new winds of real openness.
Source: EFE and RFI