This is an audio transcript of the FT News Briefing podcast episode: ‘Why are China’s nationwide protests happening now?

Marc Filippino
Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Tuesday, November 29th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

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Europe just can’t quit its Russian gas habit. The aviation industry announced a breakthrough with a possible new fuel source. And we’ll get the latest on the protests in China and why this has become a nationwide movement. I’m Marc Filippino and here’s the news you need to start your day.

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Moscow’s gas exports to Europe through pipelines have all but stopped. But seaborne shipments have reached a record high. The European Union has not yet imposed sanctions on Russian gas because certain member states are so dependent on it. European imports of Russian liquefied natural gas rose more than 40 per cent between January and October of this year compared to the same period last year. It’s only a fraction of all of Europe’s seaborne gas imports, but it still leaves the continent exposed to pressure from Moscow.

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The aviation industry just took a step towards a greener future. British engineering company Rolls-Royce said it successfully powered an aircraft engine using hydrogen instead of conventional jet fuel. The test took place on the ground, not in the air, but the FT’s Sylvia Pfeifer says it’s still a big deal for an industry that’s one of the most difficult to decarbonise.

Sylvia Pfeifer
The airline industry committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. So there’s a lot of pressure on the industry to try and reduce emissions. Now, what took place on the weekend, as you said, was a ground test that took place at a government test facility in the UK. It used green hydrogen, so hydrogen generated from renewable sources in this particular case, wind and tidal power. And the key thing is that Rolls-Royce used an existing modern aircraft engine. It was actually a converted AE 2100-A turboprop engine, which is normally used to power regional aircraft to conduct the test.

Marc Filippino
So how far does this breakthrough move the industry towards its net zero goal?

Sylvia Pfeifer
So hydrogen-powered aircraft or electrically-powered aircraft are still years away from carrying large planes across the ocean. And some companies don’t actually think that hydrogen will ever be a solution for long-haul flights. So hydrogen, if it’s green hydrogen, would give you net zero aviation. But there are lots of challenges with hydrogen. How do you get sufficient green hydrogen from renewable sources? How expensive it’s gonna be? How do you store something like high liquid hydrogen on a plane? Obviously, there’s lots of logistical challenges to using hydrogen in the air.

Marc Filippino
Now, given all these challenges, Sylvia, is hydrogen the answer or is the industry considering other options, too?

Sylvia Pfeifer
I think, I don’t think the answer isn’t just one. There’s no sort of silver bullet if you speak to the aerospace companies. So in this case, Airbus in Europe and Boeing in the US, they’re all working on a number of different technologies. So from sustainable aviation fuels to things like electric batteries and also hydrogen. If you do want to put a really big dent into the industry’s carbon footprint, then the way to do that is to tackle the most polluting segment of aviation, which is medium and long-haul flights. And again, a lot of analysts believe for those medium and long-haul flights, what you’re going to need is sustainable aviation fuels rather than something like hydrogen or electric batteries, which might be more suited to the short-haul flights.

Marc Filippino
That’s the FT’s industry correspondent, Sylvia Pfeifer.

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Marc Filippino
Protests continue across China. They’re fuelled by anger at and exhaustion with the government’s strict anti-Covid measures. The outcry isn’t just about Covid anymore, though. It’s about larger political issues, too. And the FT’s Yuan Yang notes in a recent column that a broad range of people are taking part in the demonstrations. She joins me now to talk more about this. Hey, Yuan.

Yuan Yang
Hi there.

Marc Filippino
Yuan, how significant are these protests, especially in a historical context?

Yuan Yang
I would see it in terms of generational political movements. And certainly, you know, for my generation, for the people who were born after the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, there has not been any movement as widespread and as furious as the one that we’re seeing on the streets of China in various cities across China right now. To be calling for the end to a policy is the zero-Covid policy, which is directly identified with the central leadership, with the President, Xi Jinping, to even be calling, as there have been calls and protests in Shanghai, for example, for President Xi to step down would have been completely unthinkable before this current wave of protests. And that’s because of the high level of authoritarian control over speech and the high level of repercussions for public protests in China.

Marc Filippino
But, you know, Xi Jinping hasn’t been the only person in power since the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Why have there been no mass protests in the past 30 years?

Yuan Yang
Well, one of the reasons why there’s not been such a protest since 1989 is because for many Chinese people, once the fruits of the reform era started getting going in the nineties, China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, the benefits of a booming economy were spread quite widely and lifted many out of poverty, enriched many in the cities and so on. And so I think for quite a long time people were getting ahead. People were very optimistic about the future of the country. They could expect a better future for their children. And so I think over the last 30 years of Chinese development, there’s been a general consensus around the model working. The protests that we see right now come at a time when the economy has taken a dive during the lockdown periods that rolled out this year especially. And so the economy is such an important issue when it comes to the sparks of protests in China. And we’re also seeing that broad base of discontent now with the way that the economy has slowed down so sharply and how difficult it is for workers to make a living during the zero-Covid policy of lockdowns.

Marc Filippino
But it’s not just that these protests are calling for the end of Covid restrictions. People are protesting government censorship. They’re holding up blank sheets of paper to signify just how much is censored. And there’s a real anger towards the leadership to the point that some people are even calling for President Xi Jinping to step down. And that’s almost unimaginable given what we know about the level of surveillance and state control in China.

Yuan Yang
Yes, that’s right. And if you bear in mind that President Xi just over a month ago was crowned party leader for an unprecedented third term that several years ago he changed the constitution of the country to allow himself effectively to stay president for life if he wanted to. These really strong movements by President Xi to put, to centralise authority around him have made him more and more kind of bullet-proof, but also have put more and more responsibility on his shoulders. Because if you’re going to say I’m the centre of the party, I’m the core of the leadership, then any mistakes the party makes are also your fault, and that’s what citizens will see. This is a really big difference I would say with localised protests, whether it’s workers who are owed wages by their company or residents of a housing block that’s about to be demolished, being upset at the local government. People tend to use the tactic of blaming local leaders, not the central party. And that tactic is a tactic that people use to protect themselves against accusations of trying to subvert political power. What we’re seeing in these protests is the complete opposite. People are joining the dots and saying this is the central policy.

Marc Filippino
Now Yuan, you pointed out in your recent column that these protests are a nationwide coalition of interests, not just workers or students. It’s really broad. Why do you think that is?

Yuan Yang
I think it’s about the depth of suffering that people are now going through and also being able to connect their suffering with a broader sense of shared discontent and solidarity. In the first year of Covid in China, I would say that the majority of people felt quite safe and quite happy with the policy at the expense of the minority who are locked down. Now, two years on, as the economy slows, as more and more cities get lockdown, and as lockdowns become more and more unpredictable, the lockdown policies have seem more and more erratic and irrational. And so I think now there is a general sense of this policy is completely not working. It’s causing more suffering than it’s saving. And at the same time, Chinese people can see images of crowds at the World Cup celebrating without masks on. The rest of the world’s returning more towards a state of normality that China hasn’t been able to. And so I think there’s a loss of confidence in zero-Covid as being the right policy for China.

Marc Filippino
Yuan Yang is the FT’s Europe-China correspondent. Thank you, Yuan.

Yuan Yang
Thank you.

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Marc Filippino
You can read more on all of these stories at FT.com. This has been your daily FT News Briefing. Make sure you check back tomorrow for the latest business news.

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