The Economist - USA (2022-05-21)

The Economist May 21st 2022 China 41

W

arhasmadetheKremlintryhard­

ertoenvelopRussiansina parallel

informationuniverse,inwhichUkraine

isrunbyNazisandRussiansoldiersare

liberators(seeInternationalsection).

China’sgovernmentisdoingsomething

similar.Whereasitspropagandafor

foreignearsstressesChina’sdesirefor

globalharmony,athomeit notonly

allowsbutevenencouragestheexpres­

sionofcausticallynationalistviews

online,especiallyontopicssuchasHong

Kong,Taiwan,covid­19andUkraine.

A groupofanonymousactivistsis

nowtryingtoexposethisparalleluni­

versetothewiderworld.InMarchthey

launcheda Twitteraccountthattrans­

latesforforeignaudiencesextremist

commentarythatChina’scensorsallow

onsocial­mediaplatforms.TheGreat

TranslationMovement(tgtm) provides

thenon­Chinese­speakingworldwitha

rareglimpseofhowtheCommunist

Partydistortsonlinediscourseamongits

citizensathomeandabroad,where

manygettheirnewsfromChinesesocial

media(TwitteritselfisblockedinChina).

Ittypicallypostsscreenshotsand

EnglishtranslationsofChineserespons­

estostatemediareportsregarding,for

instance,Russia’sbombingofa Ukrai­

nianschoolonMay7ththatkilled 60

people.Mostdismissedit asa set­up.

“BrotherPutinwillneverdosucha

thing,”readone.Anotherrecentpost

concernednatosupportforUkraine.

Severalcommentsurgednuclearstrikes

onAmericaoritsallies.China’sgovern­

mentprofessesneutralityoverUkraine,

butclearlyfavourstheinvaders.

InaninterviewviaTwitter,account

administratorssaidtheidentityofmany

contributorsisunknown,butmanyare

Chinese­bornstudentsorprofessionals.

Italreadyhas155,000followersand

hundredsofcontributorstranslating

postsintomanylanguages.

Ithasalsotoucheda nerveinBeijing.

Chinesestatemediaandacademicshave

condemnedtgtmwithunusualvigour,

brandingit partofa Western­ledin­

formation­warfarecampaign.Wang

QiangoftheNationalDefenceUniversity

warnedthatit aimedtostira popular

uprisinginChina.Heaccusesit ofcher­

ry­pickingcommentsandignoring

extremistviewsonlineintheWest.

tgtmdeniesanylinktoforeigngov­

ernments.Itsaysit choosescomments

thatarewidelylikedorwrittenbyopin­

ionleaderswithlargefollowings.What

makesChinadifferentisthatWestern

governmentspermitmultipleviews.The

partypromotesa singlenarrativeon

manyissuesandencouragesextremist

commentswhichamplifythat,while

censoringalternativeopinions.Whatis

allowedtoremainiswhatinfluences

millionsinsidetheGreatFirewall,says

oneadministrator.“Theseviewsget

perpetuatedwithintheechochamber.”

tgtmhasitsWesterncritics,who

questionitsbleakportrayalofChinese

society.Itsimpact,though,isclear.

“TheydisruptedtheChinesegovern­

ment’scommunicationmachine,”says

XiaoQiangoftheUniversityofCalifor­

nia,Berkeley.“That’swhyit’ssoupset.”

Onlinecensorship

Found in translation

AnewTwitteraccounthighlightspartysupportforultra-nationalism

Pandemicmeasures

All eyes on Beijing

O

nmay17ththeauthoritiesinShanghai
announced  that  a  milestone  had  been
reached  in  the  city’s  draconian  lockdown
that has lasted nearly two months: no new
cases for three days outside quarantine ar­
eas.  But  officials  say  people  across  China
must  not  let  their  guard  down.  Despite
growing  signs  of  discontent  and  severe
damage  to  the  economy  (see  Finance  sec­
tion),  the  country’s  health  chief,  Ma  Xiao­
wei, said on May 16th: “We’re a long way off
being able to relax.”
On  social  media,  complaints  swirl
about the heavy­handedness of Shanghai’s
lockdown,  which  involves  mass  testing
and  containing  all  new  outbreaks  within
quarantine  sites.  Though  painful,  it  is
crudely effective. During the Omicron out­
break,  Shanghai  has  recorded  fewer  than
600  deaths,  roughly  one  per  thousand  in­
fections.A recent paper in Nature Medicine,
a  journal,  concluded  that,  if  restrictions
had  not  been  applied,  the  Omicron  out­
break could have led to 1.6m deaths nation­
wide  within  six  months.  As  it  and  others
note,  this  is  largely  because  China  has
failed to vaccinate enough elderly people.  
All  eyes  are  now  on  the  capital.  Cases
there  are  still  far  lower  than  in  Shanghai,
which  itself  is  recording  just  hundreds  a
day.  But  other  cities  have  adopted  more
sweeping  controls  than  Beijing  with  even
fewer cases. It prefers to focus on buildings
where cases have been found and districts
with  higher  numbers  of  infections.  Such
areas face the closure of schools and shop­
ping  malls,  work­from­home  orders,  the
suspension  of  some  public  transport  and
frequent mass testing. 
Officials are grappling with tough polit­
ical decisions in the battle with covid (see
Chaguan).  This  is  particularly  true  in  Bei­
jing. It wants to avoid any disruption to the
crucial  Communist  Party  congress  later
this year at which China’s president, Xi Jin­
ping,  is  expected  to  secure  another  five­
year term as party leader. A large covid out­
break  would  cast  a  dark  shadow,  but  so
would public anger over a hard lockdown. 
Shanghai  officials  say  they  will  start
loosening  restrictions  from  June  1st  and
that life in the city could be back to normal
by the end of June. But other moves suggest
the  “zero­covid”  policy  could  remain  in
place  well  beyond  the  congress.  On  May
14th China said it would no longer host the
2023  Asian  Cup  football  competition,  due
to be held in June and July of next year. 

The  party’s  determination  to  crush  co­

vid  has  elicited  criticism  abroad.  “When

we  talk  about  the  zero­covid  strategy,  we

don’t think that it is sustainable,” said Te­

dros  Adhanom  Ghebreyesus,  the  World

Health  Organisation’s  boss,  on  May  10th,

prompting a sharp rebuke from China. 

On  May  15th  a  rare  offline  show  of  dis­

content will have rung alarm bells at party

headquarters: a group of students at Peking

University gathered to complain about co­

vid­related  restrictions.  Authorities  have

been sensitive to any hint of student activ­

ism on that campus since the 1980s, when

it was a hotbed of anti­government unrest.

Online,  censors  have  been  trying  to  stifle

grumbles  about  the  government’s  mea­

sures, for example by deleting videosofthe

angry  students  and  posts  quotingDrTe­

dros. It is proving an uphill battle.n

The capital tries to avoid a lockdown