Beijing: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using wechat platform and other means of trying and shaping public policy outcomes Texas and Florida, according to The Diplomat.
Shortly after the Texas legislature convened for the annual session on January 10, Texas State Senator lois kolkhorstIntroduced SB147, a bill that would ban the governments, companies and citizens of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying land in Texas, according to The Diplomat.
The legislation was triggered by a 2021 purchase of 140,000 acres near Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas, by a former Chinese military official. Texas Governor Greg Abbott indicated his support for the bill on January 15.
The next day, WeChat, whose content is fully regulated by the CCP, was flooded with misinformation about the law.
Starting from 1point3acres (Yi Mu San Fen Di ), a large WeChat As The Diplomat reports, public accounts and online forums and websites managed from Shandong, China, emerged describing SB147 as a “new Chinese exclusion act,” while avoiding any mention of what triggered it.
Additional new anti-SB147 groups emerged on WeChat in the days that followed. As is characteristic of other CCP-sanctioned campaigns on the platform, these WeChat groups had a singular narrative slant. They stifled balanced discussion, ousted dissenters, and promoted the most radical (and in this case anti-American) voices.
Those who came in support of the bill were called “Chinese traitors”. According to Diplomat, some posts encouraged users to attack pro-SB147 accounts by labeling them as spam, reporting them to the FBI as spies, or even attacking the users behind them.
Meanwhile, the Asia Times recently reported that more than a quarter of American companies are preferring other countries over China, said the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China).
According to amCham China’s survey, 27 percent of its members are considering countries other than China when making their investment decisions, mainly due to concerns about the uncertain policy environment in China.
Shortly after the Texas legislature convened for the annual session on January 10, Texas State Senator lois kolkhorstIntroduced SB147, a bill that would ban the governments, companies and citizens of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying land in Texas, according to The Diplomat.
The legislation was triggered by a 2021 purchase of 140,000 acres near Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas, by a former Chinese military official. Texas Governor Greg Abbott indicated his support for the bill on January 15.
The next day, WeChat, whose content is fully regulated by the CCP, was flooded with misinformation about the law.
Starting from 1point3acres (Yi Mu San Fen Di ), a large WeChat As The Diplomat reports, public accounts and online forums and websites managed from Shandong, China, emerged describing SB147 as a “new Chinese exclusion act,” while avoiding any mention of what triggered it.
Additional new anti-SB147 groups emerged on WeChat in the days that followed. As is characteristic of other CCP-sanctioned campaigns on the platform, these WeChat groups had a singular narrative slant. They stifled balanced discussion, ousted dissenters, and promoted the most radical (and in this case anti-American) voices.
Those who came in support of the bill were called “Chinese traitors”. According to Diplomat, some posts encouraged users to attack pro-SB147 accounts by labeling them as spam, reporting them to the FBI as spies, or even attacking the users behind them.
Meanwhile, the Asia Times recently reported that more than a quarter of American companies are preferring other countries over China, said the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China).
According to amCham China’s survey, 27 percent of its members are considering countries other than China when making their investment decisions, mainly due to concerns about the uncertain policy environment in China.