After 33 years of 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, brutal crackdown continues in Shanghai

It has been three decades since China’s military crackdown on students protesting for democratic reforms on the night of June 3, 1989. In Spring 2022, unfortunately, the Chinese Communist Party continues cracking down on its own people.

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In Shanghai, the government and CCP maintained a strict two-month COVID-19 lockdown that has drawn unusual protests over its heavy-handed implementation. During the inhumane lockdown, the government never respected the right to health and other basic rights. According to Human Rights Watch, an unknown number of people have died after being denied medical treatment for their non-Covid related illnesses since March 2022. The authorities also separated small children from their parents after positive Covid-19 tests under the “Zero Covid” policy, which requires those testing positive to isolate in a hospital or designated facility.

What came with the strict lockdown was the crackdown on free speech. Netizens have reported detentions and threats from the government as the authorities continued to try to control the flow of information regarding the pandemic and to censor criticism of the government’s Covid response.

The “Zero Covid” policy in Shanghai also comes at high social and economic costs to the world. The closed China’s factories and ports were destroying the

world transportation system including land transport, logistic, and warehousing in Europe and USA. According to Project 44, the average waiting time for import containers in Shanghai was 12.9 days on May 12, a 174 percent increase on March 28. These delays have knock-on effects, meaning that vessels arrive late at ports in Rotterdam and Los Angeles.

The brutal lockdown in Shanghai is another political, social, and economic disaster the China government imposes on the Chinese people and beyond. Human rights condition in China keeps worsening year after year.

On the 33rd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, I call on everyone who concerns about human rights to slam the Chinese government and CCP's violations.