China is “on the right side of history,” Xi Jinping said in his New Year message

Under criticism for the treatment of covid and the approach to the president of Russia, Vladimir Putinthe president of China, Xi Jinping gave a message for the new year and emphasized that his country is “on the right side of the story“.

Speaking on national television from a desk in a wood-paneled office, Xi Jinping largely avoided touching on the issues plaguing the nation, focusing instead on achievements in agricultural production, poverty eradication and the organization of the Olympic Games winter which will start in February.

However, he later referred somewhat obliquely to the challenges facing the world’s most populous country and its second-largest economy, saying: “the world is not at peace“.

He stressed that China “will always steadfastly defend peace and development… and stands steadfastly on the right side of history.”

In recent weeks there have been street protests against the government of Xi Jinping, the first faced by the Communist Party in more than three decades.

Xi Jinping delivered his speech after an extraordinary sea change in China’s tough policy to contain Covid, easing restrictions that led to a massive increase in infections.

Meanwhile, China’s economy suffers from rising unemployment and relations with the US and other countries are at their lowest level in years.

China is also facing mounting pressure for its continued support for Russia. Xi held a virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, in which the Chinese leader called the war in Ukraine a crisis.

The coronavirus has spread again in China

Wheeled stretchers pushed with the energy of desperation, serious faces behind the masks. For more than a month, Langfang Hospital in China has been battling an epidemic that has taken the rural environment by surprise. Here cereals, vegetables and fruits were being grown when everyone suddenly fell ill.

Due to lack of space, patients collapse in corridors or lie on the floor. A relative accompanies a 79-year-old man who had to wait several days in the emergency room before being admitted.

“Of course it’s Covid-19 – he tells Rfi – everyone here got it! We waited downstairs for three days. The doctors say that the dead are old, but no one came to visit us. Every time they said:”. There are no beds, if you have no contacts don’t even think about coming here », he underlines.

Each room in the respiratory care ward is occupied by six patients, including a 74-year-old grandmother, who can’t believe she’s still alive.

“Last Friday I couldn’t open my eyes – he says – It was impossible to walk between the living room and my room. My son took me first to the emergency room of the People’s Hospital, but there were so many people who couldn’t not even sitting. Then they x-rayed your lungs. They told me, “Your lungs turned white, all parts are infected.” My little sister got scared when she saw this. I don’t know how she did it, but he found me a place here!”, he explains.

With information from AP

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