In a Country of 1.4 Billion People, No Individual Forgotten
supposed to be a week-long Chinese New Year visit to relatives. As the pandemic in China eased, the country entered other storms - this time geopolitical. In July Hong Kong’s National Security Law stripped away residents’ rights to protest against Beijing’s tightening grip. Over the next few months hundreds of the territory’s democracy activists were thrown in jail, while others fled. Since then the international spotlight has never left China for long. A barrage of criticism is often fired from all corners of the world. Not only over the pandemic and Hong Kong - but alleged horrific human rights abuses against Muslim Uighurs, China’s increasingly assertive posture toward Taiwan, its actions in the South China Sea and trade practices. The US government is leading a global outcry for answers. Our team is kept on its feet. As I write this, the back of China’s opaque iron- willed one-party state seems to be pushed against the wall. But Beijing isn’t capitulating. It’s doubling down. President Xi Jinping’s power and the authority of the Communist State seems to solidify with each day. So-called ‘Wolf Warrior’ diplomats brazenly repeat a message they want the world to accept: China is strong now and won’t be pushed around. Leaders around the world are taking notice – some watching in fear, others in admiration.
In a Country of 1.4 Billion People, No Individual Forgotten Katrina Michelle Yu | Al Jazeera English Correspondent – China
It was a frigid Monday morning and the streets of Beijing were completely empty. I had lived in China for eight years and never seen the capital like this. The number of people living in that one city is the same as the number in the whole of my home country of Australia. This is the centre of the most populous nation on earth and it’s never quiet. But the outbreak changed that. In February 2020 the coronavirus had taken hold across China and people were forcibly or voluntarily staying home, afraid of what they described as an “invisible enemy.” So little was known about this mysterious virus which had killed thousands in Wuhan. The world watched
in horror as China entered a seemingly dystopian lockdown. It would soon spread across every continent on earth and affect millions more. This was my first year as the Al Jazeera English China correspondent. Almost every hour we reported on a new update; higher numbers of infected people, more restrictions. Soon international borders would shut and strict quarantines be imposed. We skyped families in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, locked indoors for almost three months. Our own cameraman Peng Peng was unable to return to Beijing after leaving in February for what was
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