China’s hypocrisy: Creating a new narrative through Western Media

NEW DELHI: China is a true depiction of Orwellian dystopia; a surveillance country with state-controlled media and every facet of an individual’s life is governed by the leaders. It creates its own narratives and project the same to its citizens.

As media in China is state-controlled, the content shows a glorified China where the authorities are worshipped. Amidst all the beating of one’s trumpets, Chinese citizens fail to ever get the truth. They are left in the dark and unaware of the outside world.

Having already wrapped its citizens under its wings, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)has ventured beyond the borders to create and peddle narratives that suit their interests. China is creating a narrative through disinformation by using the Western media, which is ironically banned in China. This hypocrisy of the CCP is not new.

The ruling Communist Party had banned all their social media platforms, in the fear that its citizens will become aware of the rights it has so conveniently breached. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were banned after Uyghurs raised their voices to claim their fundamental human rights in Xinjiang.

The hypocrisy continues as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leaders have called for official PLA accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social platforms,which is accessible for the outside world but not for China’s citizens.

Currently, after the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the CCP has projected its innocence through counter narratives and disinformation through the western social media channels.

The Chinese officials have opened their accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn and many other social platforms to defend China by propagating fake news on how “effectively” it controlled the ramifications of COVID 19 on economy and health, and are also helping the other countries to contain the virus and get back on their feet.

There has been a proliferation in Twitter in the name of the Chinese officials, with opening of over 1000 accounts, which is a 300% increase since last year. Besides Twitter, many videos are also shared by the Chinese officials on Instagram and other social media websites to attract viewers.

Another evidence of China’s hypocrisy can be revealed by its growing online activity in the area of content creation. It is observed that China keeps showing the videos of its historical heritage to attract millions of viewers on social media. If the number of viewers increases then China shows its disputed and crisis-laden western regions, such as Xinjiang, Tibet, Sichuan, as tourist attractions, thereby appropriating the culture of its minorities. These are the same minorities who are coerced into renouncing the same culture that is being appropriated.

China is leveraging the ignorance of the international community that is still oblivious to the fact that in China the state controls the media.

All this while, Chinese citizens at home do not get access to any media that is not pre-approved by the Government. In other words, Chinese populace live in constant oblivion and made to believe the Government narrative. China created PLA’s Strategic Support Force (SSF/PLASSF) in 2015, which is tasked to overlook space, cyber, and electronic, and warfare missions to create a false narrative. The tireless efforts of Chinese officials see no end.





Source link

Leave a comment