and dragging a protester across
the ground.
Amnesty international warning we
could see more of this in the
coming hours and days.
Let's go to Selena Wang at a
protest in beijing.
>> Reporter: I'm in the middle
of the protest happening in
beijing.
It's just past 1:00 A.M.
There's a crowd of young people
that have gathered to protest
the covid measures.
They have been chanting, no to
covid tests, yes to freedom.
This is where the center of the
covid outbreak is in beijing,
where they urged all residents
to stay at home.
It's really unprecedented we are
seeing a large crowd of people
here.
A lot of the folks as well, you
can see they are holding white
pieces of paper.
This is a symbol of
anti-censorship.
We saw protests in Shanghai,
protesters were holding those
white pieces of paper.
Around here, there are many
foreign embassies, including the
American embassy over there.
This protest has been going on
for several hours.
It's very late.
You can see the policemen is
telling me to move back a little
bit.
There's a large police presence
here.
On this row, it's peaceful.
You can hear cheering, chanting.
Cars are driving by frequently.
They are honking in solidarity.
Folks don't look like they are
going anywhere.
>> Thank you very much.
>>> Let's bring in Fareed
zakaria.
Great to see you.
You know this all too well,
these displays of defiance are
rarely tolerated by communist
leadership in China.
They ruthlessly crack down on
dissent.
They are allowing folks like
Selena to do a brief live
report.
What do you make of this?
Are the Chinese just keeping
this contained as much as
possible and allowing it until
it goes away?
What do you think?
>> It's amazing what we are
witnessing and the reporting has
been amazing.
China has often allowed
protests.
People have the mistaken
impression they allow no
protests.
There are lots of protests,
always on very specific local
issues.
Food shortage or local
corruption, something like that.
What is extraordinary about this
one is that they are allowing
protests in which people are
talking more generally about
communist party rule, as you
say, no to covid lockdowns, yes
to freedom.
There have been some Shanghai
protesters who said XI should
resign.
That's completely unusual.
It's unprecedented.
For it to be happening in
Shanghai at the university, the
university that XI went to when
he got his chemical engineering
degree in the '70s, that's what
makes this unusual.
They are almost certainly going
to crack down over time.
They are unlikely to allow this
to spread.
But the very fact that it's
happening should remind us that
China is not just this big box
out there.
There are real live people in
there who have aspirations and
ideas and ideals.
They are getting more and more
educated.
One of the things XI has to deal
with with the covid lockdown is
one thing when you have a herd
of peasants.
You are talking about college
educated people who are defying
the covid lockdown.
>> Right.
I have to ask you, does this
pose any threat or challenge
whatsoever to XI?
What about the covid lockdown
policy, this extreme policy they
have had, could that be coming
to an end?
Might the Chinese government
relent?
>> In the past, they have course
corrected when they have faced
this kind of public outcry.
It's a crazy policy.
The reason they have it, just so
people understand, is they are
unwilling to use mrna vaccines
to vaccinate their population
because they are western
vaccines.
They want to create their own.
They have been trying,
essentially reverse engineering
the western vaccines.
They have not been able to do
so.
It's a kind of extreme version
of vaccine nationalism.
They are hoping they will soon
have that and they will be able
to -- we know they can vaccinate
people really fast in China.
So far, they haven't been able
to.
As to the longer term, it's hard
to imagine that this would --
the commuist party is so
entrenched.
I would suspect what is more
likely is that they will race to
get these vaccines.
They will be able to open up.
We will -- we will look at this
as a reminder how dictatorships
work.
>> No question about it.
Dr. Fauci, who is on some of the
morning talk shows here in the
U.S., was essentially saying
what you just said.
The Chinese have been resistant
to allowing these more effective
vaccines to come in from outside
of China.
They could have gotten a better
handle on things had they done
that.
Fauci was talking about how
politics needs to be kept out of
the investigations into
covid's
origins which has been
controversial from time to time.
Let's listen to this.
>> Look at the anti-china
approach that clearly the trump
administration had right from
the very beginning.
And the accusing nature.
The Chinese will say, we will
not talk to you about it, which
is not correct.
>> They are not talking to the
Biden administration about it
either.
>> Exactly.
I think that horse is out of the
barn.
They are suspicious of anybody
trying to accuse them.
We need to have an open dialogue
with their scientists and our
scientists.
Keep the politics out of it.
Let the scientists -- these are
scientists we have known for
decades.
We have collaborated with them.
>> He was saying, we have keep
our minds open to the
possibility that there was a
leak at the lab.
Fauci went on to say that the
evidence all indicates that this
was a human to animal leap that
took place when it came to
covid's origins.
What did you make of the
comments?
>> I think he is right.
As far as we know, the
proceedings of a national
academy of science has put out a
report on November 10th saying
the most likely transmission is,
as you said, a wild market to
human.
There's a possibility it could
have been from the Wuhan lab.
We will never know, because the
Chinese are never going to
cooperate to the extent that you
would need them to to do a kind
of genetic tracing, almost
detective work, to find out
what's happening.
Fauci is right it was probably
spooked by the trump people
really trying to use it.
It got their backs up.
As a result, they are super
suspicious and nationalistic
about it.
We have a problem here.
We need a -- this is not the
last time something like this
happens.
We need a process by which
scientists can collaborate and
give us the best scientific
conclusion.
Not a political conclusion, but
a scientific conclusion.
>> Right.
Domestic politics got way out of
control when it came to
containing covid and global
politics as well.
Let's talk about Ukraine very
quickly.
Russia targeting civilian
infrastructure there.
Cutting off the heat, trying to
ratchet up the cruelty and
mystery.
I suppose -- is this all Putin
has left to try to win this war?
>> You are exactly right.
It's a very powerful, brutal
weapon.
Putin has decided he can't beat
the Ukrainian army.
So he is going to take the war
to Ukraine's civilians.
What he is doing is
unprecedented.
We have not seen this since
World War II, I think.
Because this is the deliberate
targeting of civilians.
Cutting off their energy,
cutting off their heat, their
light, bombing sewage
facilities, trying to plunge the
entire country into darkness and
cold.
This needs to be taken up.
It strikes me there should be
another round of sanctions
related to this to make clear
that Putin can't get away with
this.
This is the most brutal kind of
war against innocent men, women
and children.
He is not fighting the Ukrainian
soldiers, because he is not
winning there.
What he is doing is fighting
men, women and children.
>> That's right.
He is inflicting unspeakable
cruelty upon the civilian
population there because he
can't get what he wants, which