China’s propaganda machine uses foreign voices to support its stance on Hong Kong protests
- State media rolls out interviews with experts to criticise violence and ‘foreign interference’ in internal affairs amid unrest stemming from extradition bill
- Language used is aligned with comments made by spokesman for Beijing’s top policy office on Hong Kong affairs on Monday
Chinese state media has rolled out interviews with foreign experts to criticise violence and claim outside intervention in the continuing protests in Hong Kong, in a bid to present international support for views aligned with Beijing’s – a tactic favoured by the mainland propaganda machine.
Amid a tumultuous summer of protests in the city, the official Xinhua news agency ran a report on Tuesday interviewing six experts from around the world to reject the “violent acts of some extreme radicals” who undermined public order in Hong Kong and to criticise “foreign interference” in China’s internal affairs.
Without giving evidence, the Xinhua report cited Kenyan international relations expert Adhere Cavince, Mexico-based China expert Ricardo Chang, and Afghan journalist Hamidullah Arefi as criticising foreign forces for influencing the events in Hong Kong.
Nadia Helmy, political science professor at Beni Suef University in Egypt, was quoted as saying: “I believe that some foreign forces are secretly fanning the flames in the events in Hong Kong, trying to create chaos to undermine China’s sovereign interests.”
Also in the same article, written with eight reporter bylines, were supportive sentiments from Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of the Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai, India, and Islamabad-based academic Farhat Asif.