Chinese authorities have deleted more than 150 social media accounts carrying articles suggesting some neighbouring countries long to be reunited with China, in the latest sign that the nationalistic sentiment driven by the coronavirus outbreak is getting stronger.
The articles, which said countries like Kazakhstan and Vietnam, as well as parts of other nations, like the state of Manipur in India, were looking to return to China, prompted a number of official investigations, while state media described them as “fabricated and misleading”, harmful to China’s national interests and the cause of unnecessary diplomatic friction.
Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry this week summoned Zhang Xiao, China’s ambassador to the central Asian country, to complain about one of these articles, titled “Why is Kazakhstan eager to return to China?”
The article claimed that some ancestors of the Kazakh people shared deep historical ties with China and the Han Chinese bloodline and were eager to return to China.
It was first published on the WeChat account of an internet company in the northwest China city of Xian, news website Thepaper.cn reported. It was later reposted on other Chinese websites, including Sohu.com.
More than 30 similar articles have appeared on the Xian company’s social media account. It had its business licence revoked in July last year.
In an interview with Global Times this week, Zhang said the articles did not represent China’s official stance on the matter and that they went against the two nations’ efforts to build trust and promote development.
Sino-Kazakh ties would not be damaged over a groundless article, he said.
A report by Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said WeChat – China’s most popular social media app – had removed more than 227 similar articles and suspended 153 accounts that carried them.
A number of operators of the accounts have been arrested, it said.
“These hyped up and sensationalised articles filled with narrow-minded nationalism are extremely misleading and their damaging effect should not be underestimated,” the People’s Daily report said.
“Businessmen running these articles are not genuine patriots but driven by click-rates by consuming public sentiment,” it said.
Another of the articles – “Why is Vietnam eager to return to China?” – was published earlier this month and read more than 20,000 times.
As well as the references to Vietnam, it said Manipur’s links to China dated back to 202BC.
“Even though they are physically in another nation, they have long been looking forward to returning to the motherland,” it said.
On social media, some people said the articles were designed to fool the uneducated and the elderly.
“This is exactly the sort of content my mother would fall for,” one said.
Another said: “The only reason these articles flourish is because there are many Chinese nationalists who enjoy reading them. It gives them a boost of national confidence and sense of achievement.” — South China Morning Post
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