China’s Vice President Han Zheng addressed the UN General Assembly on Thursday. Along with retreads of established Chinese positions on Taiwan, Ukraine, and the Israel/Palestine conflict, his comments also provided interesting clues about China’s messaging to the Global South.
First, he called on the international community to “follow the direction of a multipolar world” with the UN at its center. I wonder how opinion within Beijing’s inner circles breaks down around the bipolarity/multipolarity issue, considering ...
Category: Fake News
Viral Video That Purportedly Shows Wife of China’s Ambassador to Pakistan Beating Maid is Inaccurate
A Twitter video that claims to show the wife of the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Nong Rong, violently beating a woman on the streets of Islamabad is likely false, according to fact-checkers who were unable to authenticate the source or the date the video was shot.
Chinese State Media Propagated Fake News Story About U.S. Response to China-Brazil Currency Swap Deal
A unit of China's state-run CGTN television broadcaster repackaged misinformation about a purported U.S. response to China's currency exchange deal with Brazil and then shared it on social media, where it was re-posted by a Chinese ambassador in Africa. The original ...
Indian Rumor Sparks Weekend of Baseless Speculation About Coup in China
All weekend there was wild speculation on both Indian and U.S. Twitter that Chinese President Xi Jinping had been placed under house arrest and that a military coup had taken place in Beijing. There was no coup, of course, ...
No, Nigeria Didn’t Ship 7,000 Human Penises to China
Nigerian social media is aflame with a rumor that a container of human penises was sent to China from the West African country. The rumor originated last year. It caused consternation in the Nigerian parliament before it was ...
No, Kenya Airways and China Road & Bridge Corp. Aren’t Teaming Up to Hire New Personnel
Kenyan scammers posted a fake job ad that claimed Kenya Airways has partnered with the China Road and Bridge Corporation to hire cleaners, toll attendants, and clerks. More than a dozen positions were advertised all with relatively generous salaries. But there ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Unpacking Han Zheng’s Messaging to the Global South at the UN General Assembly
No, Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport Was Not Re-Branded “China Ebb International Airport”
There have been all sorts of rumors, misinformation, and outright fake news circulating over the past two weeks about the fate of the Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. Many have reported that the airport has been seized by China as a result of Uganda failing to repay ...
No, “Chinese-Africans” Were Not the First to Inhabit Japan’s Islands
This photo of Tibetan nuns has been circulating since 2018 and soon after a fake meme emerged on Facebook that claimed they were the first humans to inhabit some of Japan's islands. The team at AFP Fact Check dug into the ...
Fact Check: No, 73 Chinese Miners in the DRC Were Not Arrested for Kidnapping and Eating Children
A fake news story is circulating now on Congolese Twitter that claims 73 Chinese miners in Katanga province have been arrested for kidnapping children and then eating them (yes, cannibalism). The story is fake and was debunked by ...
AFP Fact Checks Misinformation Circulating About a Recent Fight in Sierra Leone That Went Viral
Regular readers of this newsletter will know that the viral video of a fight between a Chinese employee and safety inspectors at the Tonkolili mine took place in Sierra Leone, but apparently a lot of people online erroneously think it occurred in Kenya. ...
Russian and Chinese Propaganda Efforts in Africa
Combatting fake news, misinformation and outright propaganda is one of the foremost challenges confronting policymakers in Africa and elsewhere around the world. Some of that misleading information is distributed organically while other memes are intentionally deployed by governments to influence local ...