Twitter locks account of Chinese Embassy in U.S.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/twitter-china-trump-xinjiang-uighur-1.5881613

by empressplay • 6 years ago

55 25 6 years ago

fireeyed• 6 years ago

A lot of other communist Chinese government rep accounts dehumanize Uighurs. They haven’t been banned yet. Also Ayatollah who is fervent anti-Semite is still on Twitter.

timonoko• 6 years ago

There has not been a public outcry. And most of those that would even make a cry, are now banned.

So.. Just welcome your new Chinese overlords and shut up.

cosmodisk• 6 years ago

Not quite sure why you are being downvoted. Just yesterday we were reading history books about Nazis and Soviet Russia building concentration camps and we were appalled thinking this won't ever happen again, while the history repeats itself again and nobody seem to care,not at least to a larger degree.

supercanuck• 6 years ago

Did that account proclaim the Uighur women were no longer "baby making machines"?

alisonatwork• 6 years ago

There's a partial list of the people the Chinese government has announced sanctions on here: https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/25...

It's unsurprising to see firebrands like Bannon on the list, but Pottinger seemed like a relatively middle of the road hawk.

The worrying part is that the announcement not only bans these people from entering China, but their family members too - which means it goes further than the recent sanctions the US placed on a few CCP officials. The vagueness around "companies and institutions associated with them" also being banned really seems to up the pressure on Americans even outside of politics to toe the line. Doesn't really bode well for improved relations in the Biden administration.

dirtyid3• 6 years ago

Pottinger is the architect of current China containment policies that's fairly coherent if not for Trump going off script. There's likely continuity going into Biden's China policy. He's arguably more dangerous to Chinese interest than Pompeo. I don't think there's going to be much movement towards improving relations until Biden sorts US out for a couple years and there's some semblance of where Trump/Pompeo/Hawks/Republican party is heading for next election. Sanctioning Pompeo probably a gift for his presidential aspirations anyway. Otherwise it looks pretty reciprocal, China doesn't have SWIFT levers, so have to inconvenience another way.

beerandt4• 6 years ago

It's pretty clear to me that China intends for it to be, and look like, an escalation, even if ambiguously so.

They're posturing on the new admin, knowing that the Whitehouse really doesn't want to escalate. A China flex without a comparable US (escalated) response would be huge for China's superpower aspirations right now.

If it backfires, then China can fall back to the position that they intended it to be reciprocal in order to save face.

dirtyid3• 6 years ago

I commented on this asymmetry before, Chinese propaganda operating freely in the west on western platforms, while western propaganda being filtered in Chinese platforms is a real foreign policy conundrum since both parties are following relevant local regulations. Hard to see how west can match without adopting similar (anti)values. Didn't take long, this only validates Chinese filtering model and plays in China's favour. I'm sure there's going to be much rationalization and wank over differences between private and government control. But IMO it's perfunctory and doesn't change the underlying effect of political censorship, in the end that's the only validation China needs.

CogitoCogito2• 6 years ago

I think access to media markets should be treated similarly to trade restrictions. I don't think the Chinese government or Chinese companies should have access to the US media market without appropriate reciprocity.

hertzrat• 6 years ago

This is not really because of that tweet specifically, but because the USA has now accused China of genocide against the uighurs

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-china-genocide-declaration-...

swarnie_• 6 years ago

This has been widely reported in the west for almost two years... What took you so long?

AnimalMuppet• 6 years ago

Widely reported, yes. But only officially recognized very recently.

coldtea3• 6 years ago

And it's not because the USA cares, it's about the trade war and the superpower piss match.

beerandt4• 6 years ago

I'd argue it's the reverse: If anything, trade concerns have prevented/deterred the US from being able to speak up sooner.

bzb6• 6 years ago

I hope they also block American accounts because of what they have done... all over the world.

I’m sure Biden will restart all wars in the Middle East, will use Twitter to send messages to justify them (or lie about them), and Twitter will do nothing about it.

DigitallyFidget• 6 years ago

It's somewhat frightening how much political control social media has. Their ability to silence political ideas, people, or entities they disagree with is a lot of power for them to wield.

I'm not debating justification of their action, merely the responsibility and power they hold.

CogitoCogito2• 6 years ago

I do at least partially share your concerns, but the Chinese Embassy can always just release the same information through a press release from their website. Anyone interested (including news agencies) can still get that information. They're not really being silenced.

Twitter locks account of Chinese Embassy in U.S.

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