"The party cannot admit that it has made a mistake"

Large protests broke out in China over the weekend against the country's harsh covid policy.

China still has zero tolerance for covid and is taking strong measures to curb its spread - even though the rest of the world has lifted its restrictions.

The reason?

The ruling Communist Party does not want to admit that it was wrong, according to Fredrik Fällman, Associate Professor of Sinology at the University of Gothenburg.

- It is a question of prestige.

They have gone hard with this very restrictive policy and they were successful in the beginning, even if the methods were brutal.

- When you have now reached a situation where there are beginning to be protests and many are less, after almost three years of hard politics, it is difficult to back down.

The party cannot admit that it has made a mistake - you have to find a way to change the policy without it looking like you regret that it was introduced, Fredrik Fällman continues.

The party exercises control

In addition, the restrictions in the form of mass tests, health apps and the "zero covid" policy are a way for the Chinese state to monitor the citizens, according to Fällman.

- It has been implemented on a large scale first with the health apps.

You have to show a certain code to be able to travel within the country or enter certain places.

In this way, the party knows where you are and where you are going.

There is a monitoring aspect that is very stressful for many people.

Recently it became known that Chinese television is not allowed to show images of people not wearing face masks and therefore the crowd images in the broadcasts of the World Cup are censored.

During the live broadcast of Sunday's first World Cup match, between Japan and Costa Rica, the state channel CCTV had to show images of players, managers and the arena every time the camera zoomed in on the audience, writes TT.

- You want to try to get as many people as possible to trust that the party and the state have the right covid policy.

If you have watched the soccer World Cup, you have, until the other day, been able to see people without a mask.

In China, masks are still required everywhere, but during the soccer World Cup, it is not, says Fällman.