A wave of deadly incidents shook Chinese cities this month causing wide-spread fear and quick government action to hide details. The first attack happened in Zhuhai when a 62-year old man drove his sport-utility vehicle into joggers killing at least 35 people‚ (which makes it the worst public violence case in many years)
The series of attacks continued when a former student at a Wuxi trade-school went on knife spree killing 8 people; followed by another car-based attack near a Changde elementary school with unknown number of victims. Local authorities tried to block any info about these events - removing memorial flowers and stopping reporters from doing their job
The cover-up efforts show how Chinese officials deal with bad news: they dont want to look responsible for these kind of events. A local party member said back in 05: “We are like scared birds on high alert everyday“ - which shows the pressure they face. Officials often try to shift blame around but their first move is always to stop news from spreading
- The Zhuhai attacker was mad about his divorce terms
- The Wuxi case happened due to failed exam and bad internship pay
- Both used what they had available to show their anger
Similar events happened before - like the Wang Qiang bombing case in Shijiazhuang that killed more than 108 people about 20 years ago; which led to many rumors and stories about real death numbers being higher. The governmentʼs only answer seems to be more control and info blocking
At the same time Xi Jinping meets world leaders at G-20 in Rio; where he talked with Joe Biden about working together despite having different views on Taiwan and democracy. In South China Sea new problems appear as Chinese navy does patrols near Scarborough Shoal which Philippines also claims
The tech world brings more worries: Robert F Kennedy Jrʼs possible role as health secretary might cause problems with China due to his covid-19 ideas. Also Chinese hackers got into US phone networks and found important data about politicians and law officers