iPhone workers protesting COVID rules attacked by security personnel

Security officers in hazmat suits violently attacked protesting workers at Foxconn’s iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, earlier today. Scenes showing workers fleeing, fist fights, and hazmat-suit-clad security forces carrying riot shields beating protesters spread over the internet, but were quickly deleted from Chinese social media sites.

• The protests were apparently triggered by a plan to delay worker payments.
• Frustration at COVID testing and lockdown policies at the Foxconn plant has been building for weeks. At the end of October, photos and videos of migrant workers fleeing the plant to avoid a COVID lockdown went viral in China.
• The Zhengzhou factory is the biggest iPhone production center on the planet.

“This incident should be a red flag to Apple that they need to be conducting extra human rights due diligence to make sure that they are taking account of any human rights abuses that may be taking place,” said William Nee, the research and advocacy coordinator at China Human Rights Defender to DW.

• China commentator Bill Bishop said, “This mess is another reminder of how Apple’s over-reliance on China for its supply chains is a massive material risk factor that the company and investors can no longer ignore.”

Frustration is building across the country:

• A social media post containing 10 highly critical questions for China’s health authorities has been spreading rapidly, despite intense censorship (original Chinese here).
• “Images of maskless crowds at the World Cup in Qatar have sparked anger in China,” according to AFP, previous reporting by The China Project, and this man on Sky TV.
• “We’ve totally confused residents,” said a health official in the city of Shijiazhuang, which had ended COVID restrictions only to start them up again after COVID cases spiked, according to The Financial Times.
• Migrant workers in Guangzhou have been forced to live on the streets as they are unable to enter their residences because of COVID restrictions, and couriers in Beijing are camping outdoors to avoid being locked down.

The tensions are unlikely to disappear any time soon: Despite recent indications that Beijing may have intended to soften its attitude to COVID zero, authorities are now trying to stop rapidly spreading outbreaks throughout the country, with renewed lockdowns and testing requirements.

Some commenters argue that China needs to continue its strict policies to avoid mass fatalities: “A full reopening may lead to 5.8 million people being admitted to intensive care, overwhelming a health system that currently has less than four ICU beds per 100,000 people, far less than developed countries,” according to a Bloomberg pharmaceutical analyst.