Expert: American citizens are not safe in China amid COVID protests

(NewsNation) — The U.S. Embassy in China urged all American citizens to keep a 14-day supply of medication, bottled water and food on hand to prepare for a new round of anti-COVID restrictions on Monday, but one expert told NewNation the warning doesn’t go far enough.

“The warning is inadequate,” said Gordon Chang, an author and lawyer who has written extensively about China. “If things go wrong in China, where you do need water, food and medicine, it could be much longer than (two weeks).”

The renewed concerns come after anti-lockdown protests in at least eight mainland cities as the Chinese government continues to enact strict controls in line with its “zero-COVID” strategy.

In its latest statement, the embassy warned that China’s COVID prevention measures could include quarantines, mass testing and “possible family separation.”

Chang said no foreigner is safe in the country but Americans are especially vulnerable because the Chinese leadership could use them as political scapegoats.

“Xi Jinping, the Chinese ruler, has every incentive to try and direct anger away from his failed policies toward a foreign country, and when that happens the U.S. is the number one target,” he said.

The wave of public anger directed at Chinese leadership is at a level not seen in decades, and for that reason, the demonstrations have become “political and revolutionary very fast,” said Chang.