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Coronavirus pandemic
Asia

Ex-NBA star Jeremy Lin fined US$1,400 for criticising China’s quarantine facilities

  • Lin, who plays for the Loong Lions Basketball Club, made the ‘inappropriate’ remarks where the team stayed ahead of a game
  • Health experts, economists expect China’s ‘zero-Covid’ policy to stay in place at least until mid-2023 and possibly into 2024

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Former NBA star Jeremy Lin, who now plays for a Chinese team, was fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) for criticising quarantine facilities. Photo: Getty Images
Associated Press
Former NBA star Jeremy Lin, who plays for a Chinese team, was fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) for criticising quarantine facilities, China’s professional league and a news report said on Friday, as the government tries to stop protests against antivirus controls that are among the world’s most stringent.
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Also on Friday, more cities eased restrictions, allowing shopping malls, supermarkets and other businesses to reopen following protests last weekend in Shanghai and other areas in which some crowds called for President Xi Jinping to resign. Urumqi in the northwest, site of a deadly fire that triggered the protests, announced supermarkets and other businesses were reopening.

The ruling Communist Party is trying to crush criticism of the human cost and disruption of its “zero covid” strategy, which has confined millions of people to their homes. Protesters have been detained and photos and videos of events deleted from Chinese social media. Police fanned out across Shanghai, Beijing and other cities to try to prevent additional protests.

Lin, who plays for the Loong Lions Basketball Club, made “inappropriate remarks about quarantine hotel-related facilities” where the team stayed Wednesday ahead of a game, the China Basketball Association announced. It said that “caused adverse effects on the league and the competition area.”

The association gave no details of Lin’s comments and there was no sign of them on his account on the popular Sina Weibo social media platform.

Policemen pin down and arrest a protester during a protest on a street in Shanghai on November 27, 2022. Authorities eased antivirus rules in scattered areas but affirmed China’s severe “zero-Covid” strategy after crowds demanded President Xi Jinping resign during protests against controls that confine millions of people to their homes. Photo: AP
Policemen pin down and arrest a protester during a protest on a street in Shanghai on November 27, 2022. Authorities eased antivirus rules in scattered areas but affirmed China’s severe “zero-Covid” strategy after crowds demanded President Xi Jinping resign during protests against controls that confine millions of people to their homes. Photo: AP

The Shanghai news outlet The Paper reported Lin posted a video complaining about hotel workout facilities ahead of games next week in Zhuji, a city south of Shanghai in Zhejiang province.

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