Chinese cities are being sacrificed to save Beijing

Bazhou and Zhuozhou, two small cities to the south of Beijing, have been submerged in record floods since late July, when Typhoon Doksuri swept through China’s northeast.

Nearly one million people have been displaced. But this is not just a natural disaster. The region has taken more than its fair share of floodwaters. All of this is a deliberate strategy to protect Beijing, the capital, and Xiong’an New Area, a project dear to Xi Jinping’s heart. 

Residents are understandably furious. Yesterday, a group of Bazhou residents took to the local government building to demand compensation, for the second time in three days. The protestors were met with pepper spray and batons. Online, the provincial party secretary has been lambasted for boasting that his region would become a ‘moat’ for the capital.

Self-sacrifice for the country’s capital, a mega-city of 22 million people, makes sense when Bazhou and Zhuozhou are small by comparison (less than a million in population).