China's censorship appeared to be carefully curating the public debate on US tariffs that took effect on Wednesday. They have promoted criticism of the US, but it appears that President Trump's move plays out the details of how it effectively increases import taxes on Chinese goods to 104%.
Weibo, a popular social media platform, hashtags using numbers such as “104 tariff rate” and “I will impose 104% tariffs to impose 104% tariffs on the US,” returned an error message saying “I'm sorry, but I won't see the contents of this topic.”
However, other hashtags that focused precisely by promoting US ocklol and China's strengths were allowed to trend. In fact, it was explicitly launched by state media. “America is fighting the trade war while begging for eggs” was one of the popular hashtags launched by China's state broadcaster CCTV. “China will not cause trouble, but we will not be afraid of it” was another.
The state media adopted an equally surprising tone in the reporting. Some daily opinions of people, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, declared that China has learned from years of trade friction to diversify and supply the economy. “In the Chinese people's genes, we can not be afraid of risks, challenges, difficulties, or contradictions, and we can view all kinds of external pressure as the driving forces of our own progress,” One Piece said.
Other works did not directly refer to tariffs, but still promoted the strengths of the Chinese economy. People's daily articles have taken steps the government takes to promote fresh graduate employment.
Prominent Weibo influencers took part in and said the trade war was evidence of the decline of the US. Others said it was time for China to bending its strength.
“Even if they want to fight, we do!” Beijing lawyer Pang Jiulin wrote on the platform, who has over 10.5 million followers. “China's system means that China can do anything that really needs to do, and that people who pay in China don't protest like a massive US demonstration.”
Some users explained they were worried about the impact of the trade war, but voices of objection or concern were generally limited.
It was not clear whether other more negative posts were censored or why censors specifically targeted the hashtags on 104 statistics. Even if the hashtag itself was blocked, many individual posts that mentioned this number are still visible, and generally expressed confidence about China's outlook in the trade war.
However, Ja Ian Chong, a professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said the government probably wanted to draw attention from the details of the high tariff rates.
“I don't think the CCP wants to reveal how serious things are,” Professor Chung said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
Xi Jinping, the party and top Chinese leader, said “we may not have any plans on how to deal with such complications yet, so we are probably trying to control the narrative and direct them towards the US and Trump,” he added.
Siyi Zhao contributed to the research.
