A closer look at Beijing’s message manipulations
The China Letter: October 19, 2021
The latest pack of stories involve China censoring LinkedIn and Apple, its state media spinning against the lab leak theory of COVID-19, a media clash over a reported nuclear missile launch, warships staring each other down around Taiwan, and a new propaganda blockbuster. So, it’s just another week of watching this beast of a beat.
Two crackdown tales
“A significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China” was cited by LinkedIn as the reason for closing its app there after the profiles of several U.S. journalists were blocked upon government demands. The same week also saw Apple abide by a request to remove the app Quran Majeed:
Fighting the scientists
Chinese state media promoted an interview with a German biologist increasingly outnumbered by those wielding more scientific evidence that points to COVID-19 starting in Wuhan. Now, the World Health Organization is calling on China to co-operate in investigating the origins, while Beijing is amplifying more distractions.
Media is the missile
The Financial Times was the original source of a report about China testing a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before descending towards its target, which it missed by about two dozen miles. The initial response from state media outlet Global Times insisted any such activities were purely about balance:
But then foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it was a spacecraft test. Mike Gallagher, the top U.S. Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, still cautioned that America could lose a new Cold War if it doesn’t decouple from relationships with China.
Strait of the state
Condemnation from China after the U.S. and Canada each sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait was a deliberate threat to peace and stability, according to a statement from the China’s People’s Liberation Army. Beijing recently sent a record number of military aircraft to harass Taiwan as part of attempting to regain control of the island.
The last words, for now
The Battle at Lake Changjin is a certified box-office smash in China, as the country has used state media to send the message that criticism won’t be tolerated for a movie evidently designed to embarrass America—let alone social media jokes about fried rice. Experts say it’s also a breakthrough for a new era of propaganda delivered by Beijing:
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