US President Joe Biden is “aware of what’s going on, he’s watching closely,” White House spokesman John Kirby said Monday regarding the protests in China, AFP reported.

“The White House supports the right to peaceful protest,” he said at a news conference after China’s historic protests against health care restrictions and for more freedoms.

The spokesman added that “nothing has changed in our commitment to keep the channels of communication open” with Chinese authorities shortly after Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia.

Both leaders, during a meeting aimed at de-escalating strained relations between the two superpowers, indicated their willingness to resume talks on certain areas where they could cooperate.

“We still intend to continue those discussions,” John Kirby said.

“We have long said that everyone has the right to peaceful protest here in the United States and around the world,” a State Department spokesman said earlier.

“This includes China,” he said in a statement.

The US believes vaccination, testing and treatment are more effective than strict restrictions, the US diplomatic spokesman added.

“We think it will be very difficult for China to contain the virus with a zero-Covid strategy,” he concluded.

Popular discontent has been brewing in China for months, culminating last weekend in an unprecedented wave of protests against Beijing’s draconian “zero-covid” policy, which has lasted nearly four years, AFP notes.

Crowds of protesters vented their anger in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan on Sunday, catching police off guard in a mobilization of demonstrators on a scale not seen since pro-democracy riots in 1989.