Beijing: people stage protests after they were displaced to make way for Xi Jinping's new airport
Opened in 2019, the futuristic Beijing Daxing International Airport continues to expand as the "new gateway to China". But hundreds of residents forced to leave their villages to make way for the structure have found themselves with homes that are smaller than they were promised. Now they are mobilising for compensation based on the market value of their lost properties.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Beijing Daxing International Airport is meant to epitomise Xi Jinping's new, modern China, but hundreds of residents forcibly relocated to make way for the facility do not want to bear the cost alone.
The new airport is located on the border of Hebei province and the capital Beijing. Increasingly, former residents are staging protests after they were forcibly removed to build the futuristic new airport.
For the Chinese government, the latter is a key project, one that President Xi Jinping personally ordered, to relieve pressure from existing Beijing Capital International Airport (Chaoyang district), one of the busiest in the world.
Located about 50 kilometres south of the capital, not far from the border with Hebei province, the airport opened in 2019 – once fully operational it should cover an area of 150 square kilometres.
Hailed by the Communist Party of China as the nation’s new gateway, the airport is symbolic of Chinese public works and their cutting-edge technology.
The other side of the coin is the 20,000 people evicted from their homes in the many villages that dotted Langfang district to make room for this great feat of engineering .
This operation was carried out in record time but not without local angst. In 2020, residents in the Guangyang area were given only 10 days before their land was seized to expand the airport.
Residents were promised new housing in the resettlement areas. Some 2,773 households (12,660 people) hastily signed contracts. Last month, the first got their new flats, only to discover that they were significantly smaller than what they had been promised.
Displaced residents from Fashang, Beiwangli and Huotouying complain that the rooms are too small for the appliances and furniture from their old homes. Angry residents have taken legal actions to protect their interests.
They refuse the new houses, and are now asking for compensation based on the market value of their expropriated homes.
Guangyang residents are also complaining that local authorities are leaning heavily on them. Posts about the protests were quickly removed from Chinese social media and some protesters were arrested.
But this has only fuelled great anger among the former villagers who now want to obtain support and solidarity from other sectors of society to pursue their battle.
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