China shuts down 153 social media accounts for carrying fake nationalistic content

Accounts featured articles claiming countries neighbouring China wanted to be reunited with the motherland

‘These hyped up and sensationalised articles filled with narrow-minded nationalism are extremely misleading,’ People’s Daily says

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Zhang Xiao, China’s ambassador to Kazakhstan says the articles will not damage Sino-Kazakh ties. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:56pm, 18 Apr 2020Updated: 4:25pm, 25 Apr 2020

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.

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