China’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 for “violations”, and the WeChat public number of QQ.com’s military channel, “Tengxiang Wu Tang”, was shut down.
In the last two weeks, several Chinese military forums and military self-media accounts have been ordered by authorities to permanently close and cancel their accounts. China’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 “軍武次位面”, have been shut down for “violations. “The military forum is a forum for Chinese military enthusiasts to comment on China’s military situation.
The shutdown of the military forum, a platform for Chinese military enthusiasts to comment on the performance of Chinese warplanes, ships and missiles, has sparked discontent among netizens. Some netizens lamented that it was okay to discuss foreign weapons instead of Chinese ones. 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. The authorities have started to purge military self-media following the purge of current affairs self-media.”
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 these military forums suspicious of leaks: “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 could use this information to analyze China’s military power.”
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, and they can’t talk about new equipment and developments in foreign armies. Some netizens suggested setting up an overseas sea, land, air and sky section under the forum’s management, so as to avoid leaks even if the information of military fans is not out of touch.
Comments: Beijing controls nationalism before it gets out of hand
Commentator Xia Zhou told the station that another concern for the authorities is critical comments from netizens: “The second possibility is that online military forums have always been oriented toward patriotism, or nationalism, and the authorities may not need these comments anymore. 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 fomenting nationalism, it is afraid that it will be detrimental 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.”
The military self-published news, many ahead of the official media. For example, the J-20’s maiden flight picture marked with the fuselage equipment came from the military’s personal Sina Weibo account. In addition, a number of Sina military self media accounts were closed, and QQ.com’s military channel’s WeChat public number, “Talking Wu Tang,” was also closed.
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 the police for discussing current affairs on the Internet: ” The rectification of self-publishing is not done once or twice, it has been done in turn many times. Whenever they find something unfavorable to them (the government), they start to rectify it vigorously, that is, he is afraid to see the truth. There are many friends who say they are too shameless to fix the self-publishing. If this thing is true, he will arrest you into the Public Security Bureau, saying that you provoke trouble, the charge comes.”
China’s 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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