Sen. Rubio, Rep. Smith call China’s zero-COVID policy 'outrageous' amid protests

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey called on the Biden administration and corporations to join Chinese protesters in rejecting Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “zero-COVID” policies.

The members of Congress issued a statement on Tuesday regarding the historic mass protests sweeping China in response to a building fire in far east Xinjiang province that killed ten residents.

“The CCP’s ‘zero-Covid’ policy is outrageous. In addition, the CCP restricts all human rights and freedoms in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and across China. It has robbed the Chinese people of their human dignity,” Rubio and Smith said in the statement.

The fire in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, went viral on social media because netizens believe the deaths were due, in part, to a partial lockdown of the building over COVID-19 concerns.

The Republicans, who are the ranking members of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, laid some of the blame for Beijing’s draconian COVID lockdown measures on President Joe Biden and the corporations for going easy on China over coronavirus and other human rights abuses.

“The Biden Administration's weak rejection of the CCP’s zero-Covid policy and refusal to call out General Secretary Xi’s totalitarian grip is nothing short of cowardly,” they said. “Just weeks after shaking hands with Xi in Bali, President Biden and his administration have once again demonstrated that they are unwilling to stand up to the CCP and stand in solidarity with the Chinese people.

The pair continued, “Nike, Apple, and the rest of our nation’s hypocritical corporate elites are following the Biden Administration’s shameful approach. Why are they silent? Is it because they made billions doing business with the CCP? Their silence makes them complicit with the CCP’s egregious human rights violations.”

China has been accused of overseeing the ongoing genocide of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province, from whom they may also be harvesting organs. 

“These protests are not about a public health crisis, but a human rights crisis. The United States must be unwavering in our support for the Chinese people as they bravely call for freedom,” Rubio and Smith said.