Beijing –

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is reacting cautiously to protests erupting in China over Beijing’s "COVID-zero” lockdowns, just two weeks after the Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to ease strained relations between their countries.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, told reporters Monday that Biden has been briefed on the demonstrations and that U.S. officials are "going to watch this closely.”

But he did not directly criticize Xi or the Chinese government for its handling of protests. Beijing has sought to suppress the unrest with a massive deployment of police across the country.

"People should be allowed the right to assemble and to peacefully protest policies or laws or dictates that they take issue with,” Kirby said. "We continue to stand up and support the right of peaceful protests.”

In a rare display of public anger over Beijing’s policies, Chinese residents have taken to the streets in cities across the country in recent days to demonstrate against the strict lockdowns and mass-testing regime, clashing with police. Some demonstrators have even called for Xi to step down.

Police were out in force in Beijing and Shanghai on Tuesday to prevent more protests. At least one person in the city of Hangzhou was arrested late Monday, according to social media videos, after reports a busload of demonstrators were taken away by police during Sunday night protests in Shanghai.

While there have been some arrests, Chinese authorities have not yet responded with a widespread, violent crackdown. The tumult in the world’s second-largest economy follows the first in-person meeting between Biden and Xi on Nov. 14 on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, where the men agreed to ease tensions and reestablish communications on climate, health and other international matters.

Kirby said Biden and Xi discussed "COVID and the effect the pandemic had had around the world.” But he said he didn’t know if China’s COVID-zero policies had come up.

"A lockdown is not a policy that we’re going to support here; we’ve come a long way,” Kirby said. He also said the U.S. has not offered and China has not requested any doses of U.S.-developed vaccines that have been shown to be more effective against the virus than China’s own.

The U.S. welcomes the reopening of lines of communication between Washington and Beijing after the meeting, Kirby said.

Although the demonstrations have interrupted production at a major Apple supplier, Kirby said the administration does not yet see any economic disruptions from the protests.

"We don’t see any particular impact right now to the supply chain as a result of these protests,” he said.

Apple said it expected a massive production shortfall of iPhone Pro units due to unrest at a critical plant in the city of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, where workers have pushed back against pay and quarantine practices.

In the past, the U.S. has been wary of throwing its support behind protests in authoritarian nations to avoid any claim that it’s providing support or otherwise fomenting the demonstrations. Already China’s foreign ministry has accused "some forces with ulterior motives” for suggesting COVID-19 restrictions were to blame for a blaze in the city of Urumqi that set off some of the protests.

The Biden administration had similarly reacted with caution to protests in Iran that erupted in September over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. The U.S. eventually shed that reticence and voiced more robust support for the demonstrators.

The protests in China have ranged from a few people to rallies of hundreds, posing a dilemma for Xi, who secured a precedent-breaking third term in power earlier this year and has packed the country’s leadership with loyalists. The demonstrations represent one of the most significant challenges to Communist Party rule since the student-led democracy protests in Tiananmen Square more than 30 years ago.

Xi has claimed personal responsibility for leading the "war" against COVID-19. Chinese officials say the policy has kept the death toll in the most populous country on earth at thousands, avoiding the millions of deaths seen elsewhere.

Many analysts say easing the policies could lead to widespread illness and deaths, overwhelming the country's hospitals. A strong push on vaccinating the elderly is required before China could even contemplate reopening, they say.

In an editorial which did not mention the protests, the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, urged citizens on Tuesday to "unswervingly implement" COVID-zero policies, which put people's "lives first," saying victory will come through "perseverance through thousands of hardships."

"The harder it is, the more you have to grit your teeth," it said.