On Chinese social media, jokes about the ball being suspected of being a spy were spread. People quipped that the ship was a misunderstood attempt to wish Americans a Happy Lantern Festival, a Chinese holiday last Sunday. Others compare it to a ball of glutinous rice, a dish traditionally eaten during celebrations.
Part of the wisdom is what happens on social media anywhere in the world: current events are turned into memes to garner likes and followers. But it also aligns with signs of a broader government strategy to downplay an incident that could embarrass and threaten China. continue to derail US-China relations.
The Chinese authorities, who have been trying to convince the Americans that their outrage at the hot air balloon is an overreaction to a meteorological ship that has been blown off course, are also deploying propaganda machinery. Their vast transmission to control discussion in the country. By limiting news coverage and managing online conversations, they are working to make sure that hot air ballooning becomes not only an international headache but also a domestic one.
The approach points to the potentially difficult balancing act China faces. Beijing needs to be strong. Anti-American sentiment has grown markedly in recent years, often promoted by the government, and the downing of a Chinese hot air balloon by an American fighter jet has prompted some calls for retaliation. enemy. On Tuesday, after a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized the United States saying it had no plans to return the balloon’s parts to China, commentators on social media speak China now has plenty of facilities to treat American ships any way it wants.
But China may be eager to put the ball behind it. Officials seem to have caught off guard by the incident, reflected in their rare expression of regret when they first came face to face with it publicly. In addition, after three years of tight control over the coronavirus, China is looking to restart its economy and get back on the global stage — an agenda that is expected to be supported by the visit. Beijing this week by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. Blinken’s visit has now been indefinitely postponed because of diplomatic uncertainties over the balloon. The Chinese government may be looking to mitigate further damage.
Its explicit permission for humorous responses to more substantive debate may be an attempt to allow an outlet for the nationalist feeling, says Chong Ja Ianassociate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.
Chinese spy’s hot air balloon duel
The discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon floating over the United States has increased tensions between the two superpowers.
“Perhaps it was an attempt to placate sentiment in the country,” he said, “but also try not to let things get out of hand.” He continued: “I think it is the leadership that is trying to thread the needle between their divergent interests.”
A softer approach could also help China avoid potentially awkward questions at home about how it lost a Chinese airship, whatever its purpose. what, and the fact that the country recently admitted a second – it also claims stubbornly – hot air balloon over Colombia. State media largely avoided covering the story, with the exception of the State Department.
China’s official narrative and the public reaction it has contributed to shape are distinct from other recent incidents that have strained US-China tensions, most notably a visit to Taiwan in September. The last eight years of the then Speaker of the House was Nancy Pelosi. Later, Chinese officials and state media incited the cynical nationalism that was dominating the internet, as users called for the military to shoot down her plane or invade Taiwan, where China claims sovereignty.
There is little sign of a similar official campaign this time, said Tieu Cuonga researcher on Chinese censorship at the University of California, Berkeley.
However, that does not mean that Chinese users are not interested in hot air balloons. Various hashtags about it are among the most trending topics on Weibo in recent days; An original hashtag, claiming the hot air balloon had strayed into US airspace due to force majeure, has racked up 670 million views.
But the tone of many posts is very funny. One of the most popular memes declares the ship to be a “Wandering Hot Air Balloon” — a play on “Wandering Earth 2,” a Chinese sci-fi film that is currently dominating the country’s box office. Users have turned photos of hot air balloons into movie posters. Others edited a pair of chopsticks around the balloon, to emphasize its similarity to the white sticky rice balls eaten at this time of year.
Manya Koetse, editor of What’s on Weibo, a website that tracks conversations on Chinese social media platforms. The end of Covid restrictions and the recent Lunar New Year holiday, along with the popularity of the movie Wandering Earth (about how China saves the world) may have brought new faith to many Chinese.
That confidence is reflected in the half-mocking, half-shy jokes that are rampant online. “Latest news: Last night, China released tens of thousands of giant balloons,” said a blogger with 1.2 million followers on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, Written along with a video about the Lantern festival.
“The F-22 doesn’t have enough missiles,” one user replied, referring to the US fighter jet that shot down the balloon.
“They say, ‘Oh, you feel threatened by a weather balloon – that’s sad, it shows how scared you are of a rising China,'” Ms Koetse said.
But China’s Internet is tightly regulated, especially when it comes to hot topics or politics. And in this regard, the government is also working to shape public opinion.
By Tuesday, the hashtag “Wandering hot air balloon” was no longer yielding results, with Weibo quote “relevant laws and regulations.” Another hashtag, about China’s second hot air balloon in Latin America, also censored after briefly topping the hot search charts on Monday.
There’s also been relatively little serious analysis of the potential damage to US-China relations, or outspoken questioning of government denial of espionage. (Some commenters have expressed skepticism about whether hot air ballooning is really a civilian craft, but most likely to avoid censorship.)
Those providing political analysis have largely blamed the United States, with a focus on how domestic American politics are putting pressure on President Biden to get tough on China. The Global Times, a state-owned tabloid and one of the few official publications to weigh in on the debate beyond State Department statements, quote Chinese scholars argue that the US is “hyping” the case in order to contain China’s rise and try to gain an advantage in future negotiations.
However, some other positive posts have disappeared. The day before the Global Times article was published, another version of the article appeared on its website, accusing the US government of trying to create a new Cold War and manipulating its own people. That is no more.
“To some extent, they still want to mend their relationship with the US, so this is not the time to mobilize the entire internet to pursue the US,” said Mr. Xiao, of Berkeley, of the Chinese government. Country.
Even if China fails to defuse tensions with the United States, at least in the short term, Beijing has another interest in allowing or forcing the issue to subside.
Regardless of the actual purpose of the operation – whether it was a weather data collection mission or a reconnaissance expedition – it was clearly broken. And in a country where the government has reflexively encouraged people to consider allegations of Chinese wrongdoing as fabricated, Beijing’s admission of even some facts about the incident has prompted some disorientation.
One of the most liked comments was under a Weibo post by state media about the State Department’s explanation that the balloon went off course. simple reading: “So it really comes from our country…”
