China lambasts US over zero-COVID policy criticism, says 'the price of freedom in US...'

As protests in China against the COVID-19 lockdowns spread, the US issued a statement saying everyone has a right to protest peacefully. This statement did not go down well with Beijing. China has often perceived any criticism of its domestic policy as an interference into its polity, primarily due to the historical baggage of the Opium wars. However, the US statement did not criticise China or its leaders, yet it has provoked an angry reaction from Beijing. 

China's assistant minister of foreign affairs and an official spokesperson for the Chinese government, Hua Chunying, took aim at the US and criticised America's policies. She mentioned all the problems ailing American society, as if that justifies welding the doors of people's homes and taking away from them the right to protest against CCP's COVID-19 policies. "The price of "freedom" in the US: 1 million Covid deaths + 40,000 gun deaths per year + 107,622 Fentanyl deaths in 2021 alone. The American people deserve something far better than that. What we want is to protect our people's lives and ensure them a better life," she wrote on Twitter

Roots of China's perception of America

It is worth flagging that whilst she is free to use Twitter and disseminate the talking points of CCP, average Chinese citizens do not have the freedom to use Twitter and share how they are suffering due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. The thought process of senior CCP regime officials is reflected in the book called "America against America''. This book gives a good insight into how the Chinese regime views America and Hua Chunying statements are completely aligned with this book's portrayal of America. The book was written by Wang Huning, who is currently a member of CCP's Politburo Standing Committee, which is China's top decision making body. 

Huning is China's leading political theorist and views of several CCP members, with regard to America, are shaped by his written works. The book was written after Huning's visit to the US, where he spent 6 months. The book has been criticised for painting America as a declining power with degrading social values. He is quite close to Xi Jinping and is widely considered to be the 4th most powerful person of the Politburo Standing Committee.