A while ago, some netizens because some Western brands advertising accidentally made a joke about China, which was originally a humorous promotional tool for manufacturers, but the result made them angry, and the official media also fanned the flames: Chinese people are not to be messed with! Those who fanned the flames may not have expected that the fire would sometimes come back and burn on the heads of “their own people”. This was the case in the case of Jiang Fangzhou’s siege, when the Chinese Foreign Ministry put out a rare fire after faking a rumor that the Italian Prime Minister had admitted that the new epidemic was six months ahead of the Chinese outbreak.
Jiang Fangzhou, a young writer, went to Japan for an exchange and wrote a book called “A Year in Tokyo”, which was suddenly attacked by netizens recently, saying that she was doing propaganda for Japan and that she was implicated as a “traitor”. Hu Xijin could not stand it, and finally Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stepped in on Wednesday. He said: between countries “in various forms to carry out personnel exchanges”, the international “universal existence”, he added, China and Japan are important neighbors, the two countries are very close personnel exchanges. About the close contact, Wang Wenbin is about the relationship between China and Japan in the past for a while, but now is not exactly like this.
New crown virus traceability investigation, the Chinese authorities interfere with the inability to investigate thoroughly, the netizens understand the heart of the government, made up a statement of the Italian Prime Minister himself, Italy found the new crown virus six months earlier than Wuhan, China. Conjecture so, still need to go to China to investigate it, keep an eye on Italy well, the results of the Italian fire, the Chinese Embassy in Italy came out to dispel the rumors. “Our embassy has carefully verified the following reminders: Italian leaders have not made such statements, Italian radio and television companies have no similar reports. I believe that the majority of netizens will not mistakenly believe and misrepresent such false news.”
It is undoubtedly good for the official to put out the fire, as such things will only damage the image of China if they continue to burn. But why have things gone so far as to attack at will and disregard the rumors? Can it be justified simply by the fact that those angry netizens are an ignorant bunch? Before the Chinese Foreign Ministry dispelled the rumors, they were all “patriots” as Hu Xijin put it, but once the officials denied it, they suddenly became “bigoted nationalists”?
Jiang Fangzhou’s case started when the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently disclosed an audit document on “Chinese intellectuals receiving Japanese funding”, and her name was on the list. She published a book “A Year in Tokyo” after living in Tokyo, which was questioned by some people as “receiving Japanese funding to do propaganda for Japan in China”.
In the documentary, Jiang Fangzhou “talks about the “system” and other issues in the era of the epidemic,” and the narration says, “What shocked Jiang Fangzhou was that In a society that is increasingly controlled, people are too simply submissive (to regulation). Jiang Fangzhou came out on June 8 and said that her meaning was “taken out of context”. In any case, Jiang Fangzhou’s expression is quite cautious, not at all “elitist Japanese”, let alone unpatriotic.
Even Hu Xijin felt that this was too much. Although the Global Times, which he edits, is recognized overseas as the most nationalistic tabloid, he probably didn’t think there were more nationalistic ones than him. His first statement was close to that of a Foreign Ministry spokesman: it is “a common practice for international exchange to invite people from other countries to travel and study at the expense of one country, and certain Chinese people cannot be accused or harshly ideologically characterized just because they have participated in exchange activities funded by Western countries.” But below his tweet, some netizens accused him of commenting that he was washing the ground for the “Imperial Association Army” and advised him to “stop washing!
Hu Xijin once again posted a blog to draw closer to the patriots: “They share my patriotic stance and that of the Global Times, but they are more emotionally intense than I am. I understand them, and there is indeed a gap between my views and their level of understanding on some things. But I also think that the patriot camp should be able to accommodate such a gap, and that such accommodation is very important. If they think they are ‘at odds’ with people like Laohu, then …… they are narrowing the concept of ‘patriotism’ too much and narrowing the patriotic camp greatly.” Some observers have noted that some of Hu Xijin’s recent remarks have also been attacked by netizens who are more vehement than him. Can Hu Xijin ever think that the result of years of fanning the flames has created a group of more vehement than him, and even he is close to being ostracized from the “patriot camp”.
As for the origin of the new crown, it is still a mystery. One important reason is that the Chinese government has been blocking a thorough investigation. After more than a year of delay, the formation of a joint mission of WHO and Chinese experts, the conclusion that a laboratory accident has been ruled out, and that the possibility of freeze-link transmission cannot be ruled out, all fit the official tone of China.
But do these help Beijing to unburden itself of responsibility? Judging from the waves of international scientists demanding to find out the traceability of the new crown, and from the fact that laboratory accidents have once again become a widespread major suspicion, Beijing’s efforts have only created greater suspicion. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has hinted that the U.S. military brought the New Guinea virus to Wuhan, but why did Zhao’s claim backfire?
The only way for Beijing to dispel outside suspicions is to open up the investigation, open up the original Wuhan lab records, open up the bat cave in Mojiang County, Yunnan Province, and tell the truth about the causes and consequences of the six miners who died of unidentified pneumonia in 2012, so that scientists can judge. Only then can the truth be revealed to the world.
But Beijing has adopted an attitude of prevarication, and some netizens, cultivated by the spirit of nationalism, are heavy-handed in thinking for the party and fighting for the glory of the motherland, and as a result, they have painted China’s image even darker. Officials are passing the buck, in hinting, Zhao Lijian is hinting at the U.S. military, netizens go even further, Italian leaders admitted that the new Italian crown virus was prevalent six months earlier than Wuhan, famous and famous.
Many observers have long pointed out that seeds of melon get melon, seeds of beans get beans, nationalism is a double-edged sword, this sentiment has developed to the point where it is exceptionally irrational to create rumors at will, the official also have to beware of their own backlash one day.
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