Communist army to hold military parade in Hong Kong in 2019
The Chinese Communist Party’s “Super Military Forum” issued a surprise announcement on March 22, permanently shutting down four sections: land, sea, air and sky. Subsequently, a number of military WeChat public numbers, including “Sina Military”, were shut down due to “violations”, and the WeChat public number of QQ.com’s military channel, “Tengxiang Wu Tang”, was shut down.
In the last two weeks, several CCP military forums and military self-media accounts have been ordered by the authorities to permanently close and cancel their accounts. The Communist Party’s only remaining military forum, Super Military Forum, has closed its military equipment discussion section since March 23; subsequently, a number of military WeChat public numbers, such as “Sina Military” and “Junwu Sublevels,” were shut down for “violations. “The company’s parent company Tencent’s WeChat’s WeChat military channel, “Tengxiangmutang”, was not spared.
China Shuts Down Large Number of Military Fan Self-Media
The shutdown of military forums, where Chinese military enthusiasts comment on the performance of China’s warplanes, ships and missiles, has sparked discontent among netizens. Some netizens lamented that it was okay to discuss foreign weapons instead of Chinese communist weapons. It was suggested that a section on battleships be opened.
According to the article, “All signs indicate that the shutdown of military media accounts is most likely to come from high-level instructions. Following the purge of current affairs self-media, the authorities have begun to purge military self-media.”
Left: In the past half month, several military forums in China have been closed down and their self-media accounts blocked. (Web Photo) Right: The management team of the Super Base Camp military forum announced its permanent closure. (Taken from Sina Weibo)
Military Researchers Analyze China’s Military Power Through Forums and Self-Media
Fujian military commentator Xia Zhou said in an interview with Radio Free Asia that it is possible that the authorities found that these military forums are suspected of leaking secrets: “Online military forums because they [netizens] exchange some information involving military movements and the defense of military bases, photos of large weaponry and so on. The military is concerned that this information could lead to leaks. Both netizens and military researchers may use this information to analyze the military power of the Communist Party.”
On Sina Weibo, some netizens wrote that if they don’t talk about their own country’s military, they can’t talk about foreign ones, new equipment, new developments, etc. What’s wrong with that? Some netizens suggested setting up an overseas sea, land, air and sky section under the forum’s management, so that even if the information of military fans is not out of touch, it also avoids leaks.
Comments:Beijing controls nationalism to prevent it from getting out of hand
Commentator Xia Zhou told the station that another concern of the authorities is the critical remarks of netizens: “The second possibility is that online military forums have always been oriented toward patriotism, or nationalism, and these remarks may not be needed by the authorities. This is because the current confrontation between China and the United States is intensifying. The Chinese Communist Party is also worried that if these online military forums keep inciting nationalism, it is not good for the Chinese Communist Party if it wants to control the extent and process of the confrontation between China and the United States, so it wants to cool down these voices for the time being.”
Left: Netizens lament the closure of the CD military forum section. (Weibo screenshot) Right: Netizens lament the closure of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Sky military forum section. (Screenshot of microblog)
Military self-media releases are quite a bit ahead of the official media. For example, the first flight picture of J20 marked with the fuselage equipped, from the military sina microblog personal account. In addition, a number of Sina military self media accounts were shut down, and QQ.com’s military channel’s WeChat public number “Talking Wu Tang” was also shut down.
Xia Zhou said another possible reason for the closure of military forums is that the authorities are concerned about offline gatherings of netizens: “There is a discontent with the Chinese Communist Party, and the Chinese Communist Party certainly does not want to see this kind of civil discontent. In addition these online military forum netizens, developed offline organizations, offline actions. A few years ago there was a very active platform ‘Neihan Duanzi’, which was blocked because these netizens extended their online communication offline to do public welfare activities.”
Yang Qing, a network commentator in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, told the station that many self-publishers have recently been interviewed by police for discussing current affairs on the Internet: “It’s not once or twice that self-publishers are regulated, but many times in turn. Whenever they find something unfavorable to them (the government), they start to regulate vigorously, that is, he is afraid to see the truth. A lot of friends say they are too shameless to fix the self-published media. If this thing is true, he will arrest you into the Public Security Bureau, saying that you provoke trouble, and the charges come.”
The CPC State Internet Information Office issued a new version of the “Internet News Information Service Management Regulations” and “Internet News Information Service License Management Implementation Rules” in 2017, after which reports and comments on “political, economic, military, diplomatic and other social public affairs, as well as reports and comments on social emergencies”, current affairs news The class of self-media to be closed.
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