China's Anti-Xi Jinping protests spread to Japan; Tokyo stir demands he step down

Protests in China broke out after 10 people died in Xinjiang's Urumqi, due to a fire. These people could not escape their building and save themselves from the fire because their building and residential complex were under COVID-19 lockdown.

Protests soon spread to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong and multiple other cities. Some protesters were bold enough to say that Xi Jinping needs to go. As China's regime began spinning the protests as some sort of colour revolution with "foreign influence", the protestors mocked police authorities by asking them "what foreign influence? Marx and Engels?" 

Most protestors expressed their dismay by carrying a blank paper, because of which the protests are being called A4 paper protests. These protests against Xi Jinping's harsh COVID-19 restrictions have now spread to Tokyo, Japan, where people are expressing their solidarity with those who are protesting against the CCP regime. Tokyo remains a hated place in China, despite the fact that a significant amount of Chinese citizens head to Tokyo for their first trip abroad. 

China and Japan

Parts of China were occupied by Japan during the era of Japanese imperialism and this led to a significant amount of negative experience, especially due to the rape of Nanjing. It is not clear if people in Tokyo expressing solidarity will help those who are protesting in China. It might, in fact, help the CCP to paint the protests in China as unpatriotic. People in Hong Kong, Australia, France and the US. America has said that everyone has a right to protest peacefully. United Nations Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said to the SBS news that authorities must respond to the protestors "in line with international human rights laws and standards." China is concerned about the protests being hijacked by forces outside China and the fact that people outside China are expressing support for the protests will increase China's paranoia.