Chinese News Outlet Accidentally Leaks Censorship Instructions for Coverage of Russia-Ukraine Conflict

BEIJING, KOMPAS.com – An accidental social media post reveals how one outlet China apply censorship as the world grapples with escalating conflict Russia-Ukraine.

The Washington Post report, Horizon News, part of Beijing Newsowned by Chinese Communist Partyuploaded on the page Weibohis statement on Tuesday (22/2/2022) regarding “instructions” on how to cover up rising Russian-Ukrainian tensions.

Also read: Russia-Ukraine are getting hotter, Taiwan is also wary of threats

China has strengthened its alliance with Russia in recent years. The two countries have also become increasingly active economic partners.

Trade between China and Russia grew from $10.7 billion in 2004 to $140 billion in 2021, according to the Carnegie Moscow Center Think Tank.

China has strict restrictions on press freedom. News outlets in the country are limited in what they can say without government interference.

In a Weibo post, Horizon News stated that any content that misrepresents Russia will not be published.

The same is true for the pro-Western narrative, according to The Post.

The Weibo post was deleted on the same day according to records The Post.

Beijing News social media account accidentally posts its own censorship orders from high up: ban on posts that are “not positive toward Russia or positive toward West”, all user comments must be carefully screened and slowly posted.

P.S. social media guy: you had one job… https://t.co/nvVx52D2Gl

— Gerry Shih (@gerryshih) February 22, 2022

Also read: As China Carefully Comments on Putin’s Latest Moves in Donetsk and Luhansk…

“Simply put, China should support Russia with emotional and moral support while refraining from trampling on the United States and the European Union,” Ming Jinwei, senior editor at Xinhua News Agencywrote in the WeChat blog quoted by Pos.

Xinhua is the official press agency of the Chinese government.

“In the future, China will also need Russia’s understanding and support as it grapples with America to resolve the Taiwan issue once and for all,” the editor added later.

On the US side, President Joe Biden announced a number of new sanctions to punish Russia for what the White House described as an “invasion prelude.”

“It (Russia) will no longer be able to raise money from the West and it won’t be able to trade its new debt in our markets or European markets either,” Biden said of US sanctions on Russia.

Also read: 6 European Union Countries Send Experts to Help Ukraine Deal with Cyber ​​Threats

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