Xinjiang under COVID lockdown as Party Congress looms

Politics & Current Affairs

Xinjiang has again imposed restrictions on outbound travel, while other places in China are clamping down on COVID to ensure a smooth, virus-free Party congress.

Residents of Urumqi, capital city of Xinjiang Uyghur line up for food during a lockdown in September this year. Image via Reuters Connect.

Xinjiang authorities on Tuesday suspended all travel services out of the region to stop the spread of COVID, just a few weeks after emerging from a monthslong lockdown that caused public outcry over shortages in food and other critical supplies.

All outbound trains, interprovincial buses, and most flights will be suspended until further notice, while stronger control measures will be imposed in airports, train stations, and other checkpoints to prevent the virus from spreading to other parts of the country.

  • Xinjiang logged 91 asymptomatic cases on Wednesday morning, per the National Health Commision.
  • Xinjiang accounted for 243 of 861 asymptomatic cases in China yesterday.
  • The airport in the regional capital of Urumqi had 97% of departing flights and 95% of arriving flights canceled on Wednesday, according to flight tracking company Variflight per CNN.
  • All departing flights from Xinjiangโ€™s second-largest airport in the southern town of Kashgar were canceled, except for two heading to Urumqi.
  • โ€œThis is a major public health emergency with the fastest spread, the broadest scope, the largest number of infections, and it is the most difficult in terms of prevention and control in the history of Xinjiang,โ€ Liรบ Sลซshรจ ๅˆ˜่‹็คพ, vice chairman of the region, said.
  • In September, there were media reports of people, especially Uyghurs, going hungry and even starving to death because of COVID lockdowns

The upcoming 20th Congress of the Communist Party looms over everything: On October 16, what may be the worldโ€™s most important gathering of the year begins in Beijing, where Xรญ Jรฌnpรญng ไน ่ฟ‘ๅนณ is expected to lock in a norm-changing third term in power. The Party is dead set on ensuring that COVID will remain under control for the twice-a-decade political reshuffle, despite an uptick in cases during Chinaโ€™s Golden Week holiday.

  • Xinjiangโ€™s vice-chairman Liu said that Xinjiang would make sure to โ€œcreate a favorable environmentโ€ for the 20th Party congress
  • Party Secretary of Inner Mongolia, Sลซn Shร ochรฉng ๅญ™็ป้ช‹, said on Saturday that authorities would stamp out transmissions by โ€œkilling chickens with a knife for slaughtering cowsโ€ โ€” in other words go to excessive lengths to make absolutely sure something happens (ๆฎบ้›ž็”จ็‰›ๅˆ€).
  • Hundreds of tourists were stranded in the airport in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province after the prefecture went into lockdown on Tuesday.
  • Tourists visiting Sanya on Hainan island started to flee the vacation destination, after authorities ordered travelers to take PCR tests or risk a yellow health code that restricts their movements.

See also:

Nadya Yeh