A Chinese diplomat recently posted a false statement about a protest that recently occurred in Brussels, causing backlash from the international community. This happened while the regime’s special envoy was visiting European countries to improve China-EU relations.
On June 20, about 70,000 Belgian workers marched through Brussels demanding their government take action against the sharply rising living costs. At the same time, one-day strikes were occurring at the Brussels Airport and on local transport networks nationwide that brought public transportation to a near-halt.
On June 23, Zhang Heqing, the cultural Attaché at the Chinese embassy to Pakistan, retweeted a post by a user named Fifty Shades of Whey about the Brussels demonstration. Zhang wrote “Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Brussels chanting ‘Stop NATO’ on June 10, expressing anger at the rising living costs & condemning NATO countries’ rush to arm Ukraine.”
Fifty Shades of Whey said clearly in his original post that the protest in Brussels was about soaring prices. He also posted a Reuters report on the protest.
Zhang’s false claim was quoting from a report by the Chinese regime’s official media Global Times and was immediately called out by international experts..
Theresa Fallon, Director of Centre for Russia, Europe, Asia Studies (CREAS), told the media that she was shocked that a Chinese diplomat who’s not in charge of EU affairs tweeted a post that totally mistated the facts.
She said that...
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