Foreign influencers used to whitewash China's rights abuses in Xinjiang, says report

Typically Chinese state entities invite foreign social media creators on state-backed tours of the autonomous region and amplify video and other content that support "pro-China Communist Party narratives," Al Jazeera reported citing a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

Further, the think tanks' report released on Tuesday said that it identified at least 546 posts by Chinese state-controlled social media accounts that promoted Xinjiang-related content created by 13 foreign influencers.

Also, the posts, spanning January 2020 and August 2021, included videos that depicted a "wholly positive image of life in Xinjiang" by focusing on the region's food, culture, and infrastructure, as well as more "overtly political" videos that disputed allegations of mass detention and forced labour.

Further, Zhang Heqing, a cultural attache at the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, was the most prolific sharer of foreign influencer content, promoting it at least 56 times, according to the report.

The report, titled "Borrowing mouths to speak on Xinjiang", said the strategy aligned with Chinese President Xi Jinping's call earlier this year to "never stop expanding our circle of friends that understand China and befriend China in the arena of international public opinion".

"By leveraging the popularity of foreign media influencers in China, the Chinese state propaganda apparatus can package their messages through potentially more persuasive voices in an attempt to neutralise critical reporting about human rights abuses in Xinjiang and depict a more positive image of the region," the think tank's report mentioned.

Also, the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that it was preparing to release its assessment of conditions in Xinjiang within weeks, after failing to make progress on arranging a visit to the region. (ANI)